Ralph Earl

Ralph Earl painted the merchants, farmers and politicians of early America in plain, direct portraits, often with a landscape or a glimpse of the sitter’s property behind them.

He was born in Massachusetts in 1751 and was largely self taught. During the Revolutionary War he went to England and worked in the circle of Benjamin West from 1778 to 1785, which refined his style. Back in America he travelled around Connecticut and New York painting portraits, including Roger Sherman, Elizabeth Schuyler Hamilton and Elijah Boardman. He also painted one of the earliest views of Niagara Falls. He died in 1801. His work is in the Metropolitan Museum, the Wadsworth Atheneum and Yale University Art Gallery.

His English period portraits, such as A Gentleman with a Gun and Two Dogs, show the polish he picked up in London.