Anson Dickinson was an American portrait-painter in miniature and oils. His accomplishment was very uneven, however, and it is chiefly as a colorist, and, especially in this aspect of his work, as a follower and imitator of Malbone, that he is distinguished.
Background
Anson Dickinson was born on April 19, 1779 in Milton, Litchfield County, Connecticut, United States. He was the eldest son of Oliver Dickinson, Jr. (1757-1847), who is known to have painted a few portraits in oils. Oliver’s wife was Anna Langdon of Long Island. Of their ten children, Anson and his brother Daniel seem to have carried on the artistic tradition of the family.
Education
Anson was apprenticed to a silversmith.
Career
Of his early work in oils little is known. About 1804 he commenced painting portraits in miniature. At this time he was living in New York City, and had come under the influence of Edward Malbone, to whom he sat for a portrait in 1804. The story is told that during one of the sittings the funeral of Alexander Hamilton passed the house. Dickinson would have gone to the window to look out, but Malbone was too intent on his work to allow his sitter even this respite.
In 1805 Dickinson went to Albany, where he remained until 1810. It was during this time that William Dunlap met him and perceived his work to be “indicative of talent. ”
By 1811 Dickinson had returned to New York and was established as a leader in his profession there.
From 1818 to 1840 Dickinson seems to have wandered a good deal, working for a time in Boston. After 1840 he lived first in New Haven and later in Hartford.
Among the most noteworthy of Dickinson’s patrons and sitters was Gilbert Stuart, of whom three miniatures by Dickinson are in existence (one in the possession of the New York Historical Society). Other prominent persons who sat to him were Robert Fulton, Archbishop Du Bois, Gov. Oliver Wolcott, Chancellor Livingston, the Seymours of Litchfield, and Gov. Sam Houston of Texas.
Other portraits now in existence include those of Robert Dorlon, Dr. Jonathan Hall, J. W. Gale, and Mrs. Robert Watts (the last two now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City).
At its best Dickinson’s work is characterized by capable draftsmanship, as in the miniature of Dorlon, which is now in the Dupuy collection.
Achievements
Connections
In 1818 Dickinson visited Canada where he met and married Sarah B. , a woman of French descent. They had no children of their own, but later, while living in New York, adopted two children whose father was an Englishman named Walker.