Skip to main contentBiographyFrederick R. Spencer was born in Lennox, New York, in 1806 to General Ichabod Smith Spencer and Mary Pierson Spencer. His father was a lawyer and the first postmaster of Canastota. Spencer attended exhibitions on Ezra Ames’ portraiture during his youth and was exposed to religious paintings by William Dunlap, who would become his informal teacher. Around 1825, he went to New York City to study under John Trumbull at the American Academy of the Fine Arts. Just two years later, he returned home to Canastota and began to make a living as a portrait artist around Albany and Utica, but returned to New York City a few years after that and found work as a portraitist for prominent New Yorkers.
While he was working as a portraitist in New York City, he gained success and popularity as a painter of the upper class (though it should be noted that he dabbled in painting genre scenes which often included lower class subjects, such as newsboys). He also became involved in the administrative aspects of artistic organizations, serving on the board of the American Academy from 1833-1835. In 1837, he became an associate member of the National Academy of Design. When he became a full member in 1846, he quickly fell into a leadership position, serving as the corresponding secretary for the organization from 1849 to 1850, but did not seek reelection so he could devote more time to his painting. He returned to upstate New York in 1858, and died in 1875.
Spencer’s work was very popular among private patrons in upstate New York and New York City, and now many of his works reside in the collections of major museums such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and the Brooklyn Museum; however, they are not very frequently displayed.
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for Frederick R. Spencer
Frederick R. Spencer
American, 1806 - 1875
While he was working as a portraitist in New York City, he gained success and popularity as a painter of the upper class (though it should be noted that he dabbled in painting genre scenes which often included lower class subjects, such as newsboys). He also became involved in the administrative aspects of artistic organizations, serving on the board of the American Academy from 1833-1835. In 1837, he became an associate member of the National Academy of Design. When he became a full member in 1846, he quickly fell into a leadership position, serving as the corresponding secretary for the organization from 1849 to 1850, but did not seek reelection so he could devote more time to his painting. He returned to upstate New York in 1858, and died in 1875.
Spencer’s work was very popular among private patrons in upstate New York and New York City, and now many of his works reside in the collections of major museums such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and the Brooklyn Museum; however, they are not very frequently displayed.
Person TypeIndividual
American, born Austria, Wiener Hagenbund, 1895 – 1977