Portrait of a Boy

Henry Inman became an apprentice to the successful portrait painter John Wesley Jarvis in 1814. During his seven-year apprenticeship, he often painted the background and drapery of Jarvis’s paintings. He launched his own painting career in 1821 and became a popular portrait painter, although he also painted the occasional genre scene and landscape. He was instrumental in founding the National Academy of Design and in 1826 became its first vice president. Prosper Montgomery Wetmore (1798-1876) was an author, legislator, military official, and merchant. He was one of the founders of the American Art-Union and served as its president for three years. He was a prominent patron of Inman’s, commissioning several paintings from the artist, including a portrait of himself. In 1840, Wetmore exhibited a portrait by Inman of his son titled “Master Wetmore” at the National Academy of Design exhibition. In 1846, at a memorial exhibition of Inman’s work at the Art-Union in New York, Wetmore exhibited a “Portrait of a Boy and Landscape” among other paintings, to raise money for the artist’s widow. It has been speculated that this portrait of a boy may be the painting of Wetmore’s son, Prosper Montgomery Wetmore, Jr., based on Wetmore and Inman’s relationship and the basic descriptions of his son’s portrait in the 1840s exhibitions. Further research may provide evidence that this portrait was once owned by Wetmore.