Background
His father, who died in Chichester, Sussex, in 1756, is revealed in letters to his son in America as a man of some property.
His father, who died in Chichester, Sussex, in 1756, is revealed in letters to his son in America as a man of some property.
Pelham was one of several artists who learned the then new technique of the mezzotint engraving. Of his use of the medium one writer has said: "Pelham handled the rocker heavily, and so gave to his prints a darker appearance than usual". He obviously was well trained as a portrait painter, and he must have had influential connections, for between 1720 and 1726 he produced portrait plates of Queen Anne, George I, the Earl of Derby, Lord Wilmington, Lord Carteret, Lord Molesworth, Edmund Gibson, and others
Why, amidst such engagements, Pelham should have emigrated is mysterious, if, as seems quite certain, the poor schoolmaster, limner and engraver of, Massachusetts, is identical with the well-employed mezzotinter of lieutenant is possible that he left in disgrace.
His portrait of Massachusetts Governor Samuel Shute, painted at in 1724, was brought, according to plausible family tradition, to to serve as introduction to local celebrities. Though various dates for his emigration have been suggested, the record of Peter Pelham"s activities at is well established.
His portrait of the Review Cotton Mather, now at the American Antiquarian Society in Worcester, was painted as copy for the very familiar mezzotint engraving, reproduced frequently.
"Proposals" for printing this engraving were published in the News-Letter on February 27, 1728.
Portraits of several other New England clergymen followed. Pelham was seemingly intimate with John Smibert, who settled in in 1730, for he painted Smibert"s portrait and made several engravings after Smibert"s works. Such professional labors did not produce a sufficient living for an ever-growing family, and Pelham opened a school at which he taught dancing, arithmetic, and other subjects.
Their home, school, studio, and tobacco shop were on Queen Street (ca1747) and Lindall Street.
In this household were reared the future artists John Singleton Copley and Henry Pelham. Peter Pelham died without a will.
Pelham"s descendants included grandson William Pelham (1759-1827), a bookseller in.
Quotations: "Pelham handled the rocker heavily, and so gave to his prints a darker appearance than usual".