Trial Strokes

September 1801

Admitted to the Royal Academy Schools

Is admitted to the Royal Academy Schools in London when the painter Benjamin West is its president.

1803–1808

Museums of Paris and Italy

Visits the great museums of Paris and then, for several years, those of Italy.

February 1815

Death of his wife, Ann Channing

His wife dies, leaving him saddened, lonely and homesick for America.

1818

Returns to the United States, to Cambridge

Returns to the United States and lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts, for twenty-five years. His nephews, the artists George Whiting Flagg and Jared Bradley Flagg, studied painting under him.

1827

First American exhibition, at the Boston Athenæum

Twelve of his paintings are shown at the Boston Athenæum, the first American exhibition of his work. He also exhibits five paintings at the National Academy of Design.

9 July 1843

Death at the age of 63

Dies at 63 without finishing “Belshazzar’s Feast”, the painting he had worked on for years as his intended masterpiece. He is buried in the Old Burying Ground in Harvard Square, between the First Parish Church and Christ Church.