Charles Fraser (artist)

Charles Fraser (August 20, 1782 – October 5, 1860), was an American artist best known for his miniatures of prominent American figures.[1]

Charles Fraser
Portrait of Fraser by Alvan Fisher, 1819
Born	August 20, 1782 Charleston, South Carolina, U.S.
Died	October 5, 1860 Charleston, South Carolina, U.S.
Occupation	Lawyer, painter

Early life

Charles Fraser was born at Charleston, South Carolina in 1782. His parents died when he was nine years old and thereafter, he was raised by his older brother, Frederick Fraser. He studied law and practiced until 1818,[1] but afterwards devoted himself to art. He attended the classical academy of Bishop Robert Smith in Charleston along with Thomas Sully.[2]

Career

At various points in his career, he was associated with Washington Allston and John Stevens Cogdell. In 1806, he visited Newport, Rhode Island where he met up with John Trumbull and Gilbert Stuart.[2]

In 1825, he painted a portrait of Marquis de Lafayette. His talent was very diversified, and in 1857, at an exhibition of his works at Charleston, there were shown 313 miniatures and 139 landscapes and other pieces by him. He was also a frequent orator in Charleston. For instance, he delivered the dedication address at Magnolia Cemetery in 1850.[3] He also delivered an address on the dedication of a new building on the College of Charleston campus in 1828.[4]

In 1830, he was elected into the National Academy of Design as an Honorary Academician, and elected a member of the American Antiquarian Society in 1834.[5]

Fraser died at Charleston in 1860.

Gallery

• 
  Portrait of Christopher Gadsden, by Fraser, 1819, now in the Gibbes Museum of Art
• 
  Portrait of Colonel James Elliott McPherson by Fraser, 1819, now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art
• 
  Portrait of Isaac O'Brien L. McPherson by Fraser, 1823, now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art
• 
  Portrait of Dr. Francis Kinloch Huger by Fraser, 1825, now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art
• 
  Portrait of Mrs. Theodore Gourdin (Elizabeth Gaillard), 1826, now in the Yale University Art Gallery
• 
  Portrait of John McPherson Pringle by Fraser, 1834, now in the Gibbes Museum of Art

Notes

1. Fraser, Charles (1800–1819). Book of Precedents. Retrieved 2 September 2014.
2. "Charles Fraser :: The Johnson Collection, LLC (Spartanburg, SC)". thejohnsoncollection.org. The Johnson Collection, LLC. Retrieved 23 February 2017.
3. Charles Fraser, Address Delivered on the Dedication of Magnolia Cemetery ... (Charleston, Walker & James 1850). See also Alfred L. Brophy, The Road to the Gettysburg Address, Florida State University Law Review 43 (2016): 831, 847-48, 852, 860 (discussing Fraser's dedication address).
4. Charles Fraser, An Address Delivered Before the Citizens of Charleston and the Grand Lodge of South Carolina at the Laying of the Corner Stone of a New College Edifice (Jan. 12, 1828); see also Brophy, at 888 (discussing Fraser's interpretation of the broad meaning of the Constitution).
5. American Antiquarian Society Members Directory

References

•  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Bryan, Michael (1886). "FRASER, Charles". In Graves, Robert Edmund (ed.). Bryan's Dictionary of Painters and Engravers (A–K). I (3rd ed.). London: George Bell & Sons.