Background
Burleigh, Sydney Richmond was born on July 7, 1853 in Little Compton, Rhode Island, United States. Son of George Shepard and Ruth (Burgess) Burleigh.
Burleigh, Sydney Richmond was born on July 7, 1853 in Little Compton, Rhode Island, United States. Son of George Shepard and Ruth (Burgess) Burleigh.
He studied in Paris with Jean-Paul Laurens from 1876 to 1880 and then returned to Rhode Island, where he spent most of his life.
He exhibited regularly at the Boston Art Club as well as the National Academy of Design, the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, and the Newport Art Museum. He also worked as an illustrator and collaborated with writer William Henry Frost on several children's books He was a painter in the realist style, consistent with the academic style of his teacher, Laurens.
Mabel Ducasse, an art critic for the Providence Journal, wrote of Burleigh’s art that "there is a quality in his work which suggests that of the masters of the Renaissance when they chose to employ line and washington
lieutenant is character — born of perfect certainty of touch and flowing freedom of line. A man of versatile creativity, Burleigh designed the Fleur-de-lys Studios in Providence in collaboration with the architect Edmund Russell Willson of Stone, Carpenter, and Willson.
Built in 1885 in conjunction with the Art Workers Guild, the building was to be used for art studios, including Burleigh’s own. lieutenant is an important monument to the American Arts and Crafts Movement and was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1992.
lieutenant is now owned by the Providence Art Club.
Another of his studios was a unique and eccentric little building known as the "Peggotty." Burleigh built it over the hull of a small sailboat that had been used as a ferry between Little Compton and Middletown, Rhode Island. lieutenant featured a thatched roof, and today it is on display at the Little Compton Historical Society. He had a long association with the Rhode Island School of Design, serving on the board of directors (1887–1893), as a teacher (1897–1906), and as a trustee (1919–1931).
He received an honorary degree from Brown University in 1912.
Burleigh was a leading member of the art community in Rhode Island.
Married Sarah Drew Wilkinson, June 3, 1875.