PORTRAIT OF A LADY.—[JOHN SINGLETON COPLEY.]

ART   IN   AMERICA

A   CRITICAL   AND   HISTORICAL   SKETCH

BY
S. G. W. BENJAMIN
AUTHOR OF "CONTEMPORARY ART IN EUROPE" "WHAT IS ART" &c.


ILLUSTRATED




NEW YORK
HARPER & BROTHERS, PUBLISHERS
FRANKLIN SQUARE
1880

Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1879, by
H A R P E R   &   B R O T H E R S,
In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington.

ERRATUM.
The cut on page 28, attributed to Rembrandt Peale, should be credited to
John T. Peele.

PREFACE.

THE aim of this book has been to give a historical outline of the growthof the arts in America. But while this has been the dominating idea inthe mind of the writer, criticism has necessarily entered, more or less,into the preparation of the work, since only by weighing the differencesor the comparative merits of those artists who seemed best to illustratethe various phases of American art has it been possible to trace itsprogress from one step to another.

It is from no lack of appreciation of their talents that the author hasapparently neglected mention of the American artists resident in foreigncapitals—like Bridgman, Duveneck, Wight, Neal, Bacon, Benson, ErnestParton, Millet, Whistler, Dana, Blashfield, Miss Gardner, Miss Conant,and many others who have done credit to American æsthetic culture. Butit was necessary to draw the line somewhere; and to discuss what ourartists are painting abroad would have at once enlarged the scope of thework beyond the limits of the plan adopted. An exception has been madein the case of our sculptors, because they have so uniformly lived andwrought in Europe, and so large a proportion of them are still residentthere, that, were we to confine this branch of the subject only to thesculptors now actually in America, there would be little left to sayabout their department of our arts.

The author takes this occasion cordially to thank the artists andamateurs who have kindly permitted copies of their paintings anddrawings to be engraved for this volume.

CONTENTS.