Thomas Le Clear

Background

Thomas Le Clear was born at Owego, New York, United States, the son of Louis Le Clear (or Le Clere).

Career

Le Clear was a veritable infant phenomenon, for without instruction, at the age of nine, he painted acceptable portraits of his schoolmates, and at twelve he produced a surprisingly good picture of St. Matthew, of which replicas were in brisk demand at $2. 50 each. In 1832 the family moved to London, Ontario, where the youth of fourteen continued to paint portraits, his most influential patron being the Hon. John Wilson, a former member of the Canadian Parliament.

Two years later he was at Goderich, Ontario, painting decorative panels for a Lake Huron steamboat. Thence he found his way to Norfolk, New York, and after two years there to Green Bay, Wisconsin, "sketching Indians on the way. " His subsequent wanderings in search of employment took him to Elmira and Rochester, New York, and finally in 1839, to New York City, where he was soon able to support himself "with comfort and respectability. " Later he went to Buffalo, New York, where he worked busily on portraits and genre pieces. Returning to New York City in 1860, he passed the rest of his life there.

He made two or three short trips abroad and exhibited several of his works in the Royal Academy, London, including his fine portrait of his colleague William Page (1876), now in the Corcoran Gallery, Washington, a canvas which was warmly praised by the English and American critics.

During his stay in Buffalo he had painted several successful genre pictures such as the "Marble-Players, " which was bought by the Art Union, "Young America, " and "The Itinerants, " which was exhibited at the National Academy of 1862. These episodic canvases are well composed, agreeable in color, and manifest a distinct talent for the expression of juvenile character. Among his best-known portraits were those of Presidents Fillmore and Grant, George Bancroft, William Cullen Bryant, Bayard Taylor, Edwin Booth, Parke Godwin, Daniel S. Dickinson, and Joseph Henry, the last-named likeness belonging to the National Gallery of Art, Washington. He died at his home in Rutherford Park, New Jersey, in his sixty-fifty year.

Achievements

• Le Clear was noted for his genre scenes, including "Interior with Portraits". His more significant achievements were his portraits of men, which were among the best made in America in the middle of nineteenth century.

Works

• book

  • book

Membership

In 1863 he was made a member of the National Academy of Design.

Connections

In 1844 Le Clear married the daughter of Russell R. Wells of Boston, Massachussets. His wife died in 1869 and he later married the daughter of James S. King of New York.

Father:

Louis Le Clear