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George Freeman Biography

George Freeman was born on 21 April 1789 at Spring Hill, near Mansfield Center.

The Early Life of George Freeman

George Freeman was reputed in England and America as he was a famous painter of miniature portraits on porcelain and ivory.

George Freeman Biography
George Freeman

Skiff Freeman was his father who was a farmer and his mother as Mary. But whatever he became in his later years was due to his own personal efforts. The earlier pictures of his paintings that remain are of Mrs. Sigourney and many others in the possession of Mrs. H. B. Beach of Hartford who was executed in 1810.

He went abroad in 1813 and remained in Europe for twenty-four years which also accounts for Mr. Dunlap’s oversight. Without any warning, Mr. Dunlap returned and had dinner with his father and told him that he had already met his son in Paris as well as London.

In London, his works were highly praised. Moreover, he received a distinguished honor to paint Queen Victoria and Albert from life.

Artistic Life of George Freeman

There were charming minor art forms which are small, cheaper, or more intimate alternatives to the full-scale portrait that was practiced at that time.

George Freeman Biography
Artwork by George Freeman

It provided a kind of personal memento that can be carried, pressed into an album, and even born in a brooch as well as a locket. From colonial centers of British North America to fostering indigenous schools of miniature-painting and silhouette–taking,

This market is so limiting and therefore the creation of these works remained in the hands of itinerant artists. These people used to do, they used to come from the busier art centers of Boston or New York or overseas to set up their shops for a few weeks.

They will advertise their skills here either in the newspapers or in a shop window when they come to know that their business is declining so they will move to the next colonial center.

George Freeman’s Works and Achievements

Very little is known about him rather than the fact that at an early age, his interest started in arts and moreover, he was self-taught.  When he was 19, he used to live with his sister.

He used to support himself as an itinerant artist who used to travel throughout New York City. He often paid the visit to commissions. In 1816, he had a stay in Montreal and then went to London the next year where he achieved his great success. In 1825, he painted the Duchess of Leeds.

George Freeman’s Wife

Also, a letter written by his wife in 1827 lists a string of aristocratic sitters and he painted Queen Victoria in 1841. A letter written by him to his brother reveals both prosperity as well as homesickness.

After staying for 20 years abroad in 1841, he returned to the United Kingdom. Soon after his arrival in America, he painted Martin Van Buren who was his longtime friend in commission and who made sure that he continued his success in the market of America.

George Freeman Biography
Freeman_George_ painted Queen Victoria_1841

He showed his paintings at the National Academy of Design, the American Academy, the Boston Athenaeum, and the Artists’ Fund Society. In the 1840s, he entered a phase of semi-retirement and then he settled in the suburbs of New York City. He died on 7 March 1868.

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