Albert Fitch Bellows

Background

Alber Bellows was born on November 29, 1829, in Milford, Massachussets, was the only son of Dr. Albert J. and Pamela (Fitch) Bellows, and was descended from John Bellows who emigrated to Massachusetts on the Hopewell in 1635.

Education

At an early age Albert was placed in a boot and shoe store, but at the age of sixteen he moved to Boston, with the consent of his parents, and entered the architectural office of A. B. Young.

Career

Bellows went into partnership with an architect named J. B. Toule in 1849, but abandoned architecture for painting at the end of a year. He was the principal of the New England School of Design in Boston, 1850-1856. Upon his resignation from this position, he visited Paris during the Exposition and then lived in Antwerp where, after studying at the Royal Academy, he was elected an honorary member of the Royal Society of Painters of Belgium in 1858. Upon his return he lived in New York City and was elected a member of the National Academy in 1861. In 1865 he began painting in water-colors.

Bellows returned to Europe in 1867, painting in England, France, and Belgium, and being elected an honorary member of the Royal Belgian Society of Painters in Water Colors in 1868. Moving to Boston shortly after, he remained in that city until the great fire of 1872, in which his studio and with it much of his work was destroyed. He then settled in New York City. He was one of the early members of the American Society of Painters in Water Color. This association published his book entitled Water Color Painting; Some Facts and Authorities in Relation to Its Durability (1868).

The subjects of Bellows’s paintings in this country were rural scenes, painted with homely fidelity, in the vicinity of New York, Boston, and Windsor, Connecticut. His technique both in oils and water-colors was of the early painstaking type. Some of his later oil paintings were carried out with the palette knife instead of a brush. Besides displaying at the National Academy, he showed his work in 1876 at the Philadelphia Centennial, and in 1878 at the Paris Exposition. "The First Pair of Boots, " "A New England Village, " "The Notch at Lancaster" are some of the titles of his paintings.

Toward the end of his career Bellows devoted much time to etching, and was one of the first in this country to attempt large etched plates. Of some fifteen etchings the most important were "The Inlet, " "The River-side Inn, " and "The Mill-stream. " Bellows died in 1883.

Achievements

• Albert Bellows was a well-known landscape painter of his time. Bellow was skilled both at oil and watercolor paintings. He authored a book titled "Water-Color Painting: Some Facts and Authorities in Relation to Its Durability" (1868). Bellows also mastered etching and was one of the first in the USA to attempt large etched plates. His most important etchings were: "The Inlet, " "The River-side Inn, " and "The Mill-stream. "

Works

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Membership

Albert Bellows was an honorary member of the Royal Society of Painters of Belgium; the Royal Belgian Society of Painters in Water Colors; a member of the National Academy of Design; the American Society of Painters in Water Color; the New York Etching Club; the Philadelphia Society of Etchers; and the Society of Painter-Etchers of London.

Connections

On August 5, 1851, Albert Bellows married Candace J. Brown of Fall River.

Father:

Dr. Albert J. Bellows

Mother:

Pamela (Fitch) Bellows

Wife:

Candace J. (Brown) Bellows

Son:

Howard P. Bellows