John Haley Bellamy
| John Haley Bellamy | |
|---|---|
John Haley Bellamy, circa 1856
|
|
| Born |
April 5, 1836 Kittery, Maine |
| Died | April 6, 1914 (aged 78) Portsmouth, New Hampshire |
| Occupation | Wood carver |
| Known for | Carving eagles |
John Haley Bellamy (April 5, 1836 – April 6, 1914) was a folk artist of New England, USA, known for his highly stylized carved wooden eagles and other decorative items for ships and homes. Bellamy was born in Kittery, Maine in 1836, and stayed there for much of his career. Later in his life he lived and worked elsewhere in New England. Although carving was his primary means of supporting himself, he never considered himself to be an "artist," and he is not known to have signed any of his pieces. His eagles are highly desired in the collectors' market, with some selling in 2007 for over $100,000, and a large piece setting an artist-record price of $660,000 at an August 2005 auction. Bellamy died in Portsmouth, New Hampshire in 1914.
John Haley Bellamy was born April 5, 1836 in the historic Pepperrell Mansion (originally built in 1683) in Kittery, Maine to Charles Gerrish Bellamy and Frances Keene Bellamy. Frances had originally been married to Charles' older brother, John Haley Bellamy, but he died three years after they were married, leaving Frances with two young daughters. There was some discrepancy in the marriage date of Charles and Frances as family records, smudged and altered, show it as being February 29, 1835, while town records mark it as being February 29, 1836, six weeks before John's birth. Besides his two half-sisters from his mother's previous marriage, Bellamy had eight other siblings.
Bellamy was apprenticed to Samuel Dockham, a furniture maker in Portsmouth, New Hampshire in his youth. In 1857, at the age of 21, Bellamy worked with the well known ship's carver Laban Beecher in Boston. Beecher is the carver responsible for the Andrew Jackson figurehead of USS Constitution that was very controversial and ended up being decapitated by vandals. Later in 1857, Bellamy left Beecher's shop and enrolled in school, possibly because there was not enough work for him to remain on.
Not much is known about Bellamy's career after his term at New Hampton Institute until the mid-1860s, when it was clear that he was carving for money in Boston. In the late 1860s, he entered into a partnership with D.A. Titcomb, a patent agent in Boston who managed to help sell and ship a large number of Bellamy's carving throughout the country. Between the years of 1867-1871, six styles of clock cases were patented by Bellamy. These featured Masonic symbols, Knights of Columbus emblems and Grand Army of the Republic insignia.
...
Wikipedia