Aaron Draper Shattuck was an American painter. He was the oldest living member of the National Academy of Design.
Background
He was born on March 9, 1832 at Francestown, New Hampshire, United States, the seventh of nine children of Jesse and Harriet (Williams) Shattuck.
His grandfather, Stephen Shattuck, a Revolutionary pensioner, had settled at Francestown, but the family came originally from Massachusetts, the earliest settler having been William Shattuck, who was born in England about 1621 and died in Watertown, Massachussets, in 1672. Jesse Shattuck, a stone mason, worked at his trade in Francestown, at Lowell, Boston, and Worcester, Massachussets, and at Hartford, Connecticut.
Education
He was educated in the public schools at Lowell. In Boston he continued his art education at the National Academy of Design, perhaps through Ransom's advice.
Career
Aaron in 1851 began to paint portraits in the Boston studio of Alexander Ransom, later accompanying his master to New York. By 1855 he was already established as a portrait painter in New York.
Shattuck's landscapes were specially commended in his New York period for the fidelity with which he rendered foreground objects. He painted during the summers in the White Mountains, on Lake Champlain, and in the Housatonic valley. In 1868 he "discovered" Granby, Connecticut, and two years later he bought there a farm which became his permanent home during the rest of his very long life. He became a stock-breeder as well as a painter and often portrayed his own cattle and sheep in his landscapes.
He was the creator of large painting, "Sunday Morning in New England". Among Shattuck's Academy pictures were "Hillside, Lake Champlain" and "Morning Light, " 1869; "Lake Champlain, " 1870 and others. "Down in the Meadows" became the property of the Albright Art Gallery, Buffalo, New York.
His later years were uneventful. He died at Granby, Connecticut.
Achievements
Aaron Draper Shattuck presented White Mountain School and mainly portrayed his own cattle and sheep in his landscapes. His most famous works: "The New England Farm" and "A Group of Sheep" 1871; "White Hills in October" 1872; "Sheep, " 1873; "Sheep and Cattle" 1874; "The Old Homestead" and "Haying Time" 1875.
He invented a canvas stretcher bar key which was used by artists of the era, and which contributed to Shattuck's considerable wealth.
He was elected a member of the National Academy in 1861.
Personality
Quotes from others about the person
"He is exact, graceful, and often effective, " says Tuckerman. "There is a true pastoral vein in him; his best cattle and water scenes, with meadow and trees, are eloquent of repose. "
Connections
He married, June 4, 1860, Marian, daughter of Samuel and Pamela (Chandler) Colman and sister of Samuel Colman, the landscape painter, with whom he was closely associated. They had three sons and three daughters.
