Chester Harding

Chester Harding painted direct, sturdy portraits of Americans and Britons in the early nineteenth century, including politicians, merchants and frontier figures. He is known for a portrait of Daniel Boone painted in 1820, the only one made from life.

He was born in Conway, Massachusetts, in 1792 and worked as a chair maker and sign painter before teaching himself portraiture. After some study in Philadelphia he became a successful travelling painter, worked in London from 1823 to 1826 and settled in Boston. He painted James Monroe, Daniel Webster and Charles Carroll of Carrollton. He died in Boston in 1866.

His portraits of the Lawrence brothers, Abbott and Amos, show Boston’s merchant class.