Career
He had a well-formed style; resided at Boston, Mass., and Portsmouth, N. H.; painted industriously among the wealthy colonial families; and probably went to Jamaica with one of his sitters, Sir Alexander Grant, who became governor in 1764. No portrait by Blackburn later than 1763 has been found. His style somewhat suggests that of the English painters Thomas Hudson (1701-1779) and Joseph Highmore (1692-1780). Noteworthy portraits attributed to Blackburn are those of Jeffrey Amherst, Theodore Atkinson (Sr. and Jr.), Joshua Babcock, Mrs. Nathaniel Barrell, Mrs. John Bours, Rev. Peter Bours, Mrs. Thomas Bulfinch, Mrs. Wiseman Claggett, Mary Holyoke Cutts and Samuel Cutts, Mrs. Thomas Deering, Mary Faneuil, Mary Brown Greenleaf, Mrs. Thomas Hancock, Daniel Henchman, William B. Johnson, Lady Pepperell, James Otis, Joshua Warner, and Joshua Winslow.He brought with him a well-formed style; resided at Boston, Mass., and Portsmouth, N. H.; painted industriously among the wealthy colonial families; and probably went to Jamaica with one of his sitters, Sir Alexander Grant, who became governor in 1764. No portrait by Blackburn later than 1763 has been found. His style somewhat suggests that of the English painters Thomas Hudson (1701-1779) and Joseph Highmore (1692-1780). Noteworthy portraits attributed to Blackburn are those of Jeffrey Amherst, Theodore Atkinson (Sr. and Jr.), Joshua Babcock, Mrs. Nathaniel Barrell, Mrs. John Bours, Rev. Peter Bours, Mrs. Thomas Bulfinch, Mrs. Wiseman Claggett, Mary Holyoke Cutts and Samuel Cutts, Mrs. Thomas Deering, Mary Faneuil, Mary Brown Greenleaf, Mrs. Thomas Hancock, Daniel Henchman, William B. Johnson, Lady Pepperell, James Otis, Joshua Warner, and Joshua Winslow.