Charles Loring Elliott (1812-1868)
Elliott was born in the Finger Lakes northeast of Aurora and south of Auburn, Cayuga County, in 1812. Back then this was the wild west frontier with deep woods, log cabins, and Iroquois Indians and British soldiers still roaming the area. His parents and family must have been real pioneers. Apparently his father was a good architect and moved the family to Syracuse for the building trades when Charles was a boy. He took up drawing and painting on his own.
Elliott lived in Skaneateles, NY from 1834 to 1838 and established himself as a portrait painter there. The Skaneateles Library has a number of his early paintings showing his beginner's, more primitive, and early style. He would grow to become the most respected and admired portrait painter in the country; probably the best at capturing a likeness since Gilbert Stuart. His later portraits have a life, color and flourish to them that makes his work comparable to Van Dyke's. (And they were in his day).
He moved on to New York City and then to Albany, but returned to the Finger Lakes frequently. He became famous in New York and was acclaimed at the National Academy. He was friends with and painted many notable New Yorkers. We know he was in Auburn working on a portrait of William Seward and using the young George L. Clough's studio in 1845. The new railroads made the trip home quite easy.
He has remained a legend to this day in Syracuse, Utica, Auburn, and Skaneateles among those of us who appreciate the fine arts. He greatly influenced all of the other artists who followed him from this area.
On Feb. 8th, 1897 John D. Barrow presented his paper on Elliott in Skaneateles to the Onondaga Historical Association. A copy of this exists at the Skaneateles Library, which also owns Elliott's celebrated portrait of Sanford Thayer that hangs over the mantle in the main reading room.
Link here to Elliott biography by Sheila Tucker, Cayuga County Historian.
References:
Elliott in Skaneateles, A Paper Read Before The Onondaga Historical Association, Feb. 8th, 1897 by John D. Barrow. Syracuse, NY Eaton& Mains, Printers, 1897.
Charles L. Elliott, Obituary from The Skaneateles Democrat, Harrison B. Dodge, Editor. Editions of Aug. 27, 1868 & Sept. 3, 1868.
Mathew Brady Daguerreotype of C. L. Elliott circa 1850
December 1, 2007
©JSutton Gallery - Finger Lakes Artists 2007