Edwin Tryon Billings or E.T. Billings was a portrait painter in 19th-century United States. He lived in Montgomery, Alabama

Montgomery, Alabama

Montgomery is the capital of the U.S. state of Alabama, and is the county seat of Montgomery County. It is located on the Alabama River southeast of the center of the state, in the Gulf Coastal Plain. As of the 2010 census, Montgomery had a population of 205,764 making it the second-largest city...

; Worcester, Massachusetts

Worcester, Massachusetts

Worcester is a city and the county seat of Worcester County, Massachusetts, United States. Named after Worcester, England, as of the 2010 Census the city's population is 181,045, making it the second largest city in New England after Boston....

; and in Boston

Boston

Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...

. Among his numerous portrait subjects were Daniel Webster

Daniel Webster

Daniel Webster was a leading American statesman and senator from Massachusetts during the period leading up to the Civil War. He first rose to regional prominence through his defense of New England shipping interests...

, William Lloyd Garrison

William Lloyd Garrison

William Lloyd Garrison was a prominent American abolitionist, journalist, and social reformer. He is best known as the editor of the abolitionist newspaper The Liberator, and as one of the founders of the American Anti-Slavery Society, he promoted "immediate emancipation" of slaves in the United...

 and Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.

Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.

Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. was an American physician, professor, lecturer, and author. Regarded by his peers as one of the best writers of the 19th century, he is considered a member of the Fireside Poets. His most famous prose works are the "Breakfast-Table" series, which began with The Autocrat...

Biography

Billings was born November 20, 1824, to wheelwright Ira Billings and Eunice Tryon of Massachusetts. He lived in Montgomery, Alabama, intermittently ca.1850-1859; and in Worcester, Massachusetts, ca.1854-1856. He "first visited Worcester in 1854. Billings painted several important Worcester residents, including John Davis

John Davis (Massachusetts Governor)

John Davis was an American lawyer, businessman and politician.-Early life:John Davis was born in Northborough, Massachusetts...

 and Stephen Salisbury. His work hung in many public buildings including the Worcester County Courthouse and Mechanics Hall."

He moved to Boston in the 1860s, working in the Studio Building

Studio Building (Boston, Massachusetts)

The Studio Building on Tremont Street in Boston, Massachusetts, housed artists' studios, theatre companies and other businesses in the 19th century. It "held the true Bohemia of Boston, where artists and literati delighted to gather." Among the tenants were portraitist E.T...

 on Tremont Street ca.1864-1891. In the 1874 exhibition of the Massachusetts Charitable Mechanic Association

Massachusetts Charitable Mechanic Association

The Massachusetts Charitable Mechanic Association of Boston, Massachusetts, was "formed for the sole purposes of promoting the mechanic arts and extending the practice of benevolence." Founding members included Paul Revere, Benjamin Russell, and others...

 Billings showed several paintings, including "Child and Kitten," and "Children and Rabbits." His work also appeared in the 1887 National Academy of Design

National Academy of Design

The National Academy Museum and School of Fine Arts, founded in New York City as the National Academy of Design – known simply as the "National Academy" – is an honorary association of American artists founded in 1825 by Samuel F. B. Morse, Asher B. Durand, Thomas Cole, Martin E...

 exhibit.

Billings married Frances E. Keller in 1867. Friends included painter George Fuller, with whom he travelled in the southern United States. Among Billings' possessions was a copy of Walt Whitman

Walt Whitman

Walter "Walt" Whitman was an American poet, essayist and journalist. A humanist, he was a part of the transition between transcendentalism and realism, incorporating both views in his works. Whitman is among the most influential poets in the American canon, often called the father of free verse...

's Two Rivulets, annotated by Whitman, and notably auctioned for a relatively high sum in 1909.

Portrait subjects included:

• Ira Billings, father of E.T. Billings
• James Freeman Clarke
  James Freeman Clarke
  James Freeman Clarke , an American theologian and author.-Biography:Born in Hanover, New Hampshire, James Freeman Clarke attended the Boston Latin School, graduated from Harvard College in 1829, and Harvard Divinity School in 1833...
  
  
• Alpheus Crosby
• Thomas Russell Crosby
• John Davis
  John Davis (Massachusetts Governor)
  John Davis was an American lawyer, businessman and politician.-Early life:John Davis was born in Northborough, Massachusetts...
  
  

• George Fuller
• Helen Eliza Benson Garrison, wife of W.L. Garrison
• William Lloyd Garrison
  William Lloyd Garrison
  William Lloyd Garrison was a prominent American abolitionist, journalist, and social reformer. He is best known as the editor of the abolitionist newspaper The Liberator, and as one of the founders of the American Anti-Slavery Society, he promoted "immediate emancipation" of slaves in the United...
  
  
• Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.
  Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.
  Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. was an American physician, professor, lecturer, and author. Regarded by his peers as one of the best writers of the 19th century, he is considered a member of the Fireside Poets. His most famous prose works are the "Breakfast-Table" series, which began with The Autocrat...
  
  
• Abraham Lincoln
  Abraham Lincoln
  Abraham Lincoln was the 16th President of the United States, serving from March 1861 until his assassination in April 1865. He successfully led his country through a great constitutional, military and moral crisis – the American Civil War – preserving the Union, while ending slavery, and...
  
  

• Maria Mitchell
  Maria Mitchell
  Maria Mitchell was an American astronomer, who in 1847, by using a telescope, discovered a comet which as a result became known as the "Miss Mitchell's Comet". She won a gold medal prize for her discovery which was presented to her by King Frederick VII of Denmark. The medal said “Not in vain do...
  
  
• Andrew Preston Peabody
  Andrew Preston Peabody
  Andrew Preston Peabody was an American clergyman and author.Born in Beverly, Massachusetts, Peabody was descended from Lieut. Francis Peabody of St. Albans, who emigrated to Massachusetts in 1635...
  
  
• Abigail Lord Rogers
• Stephen Salisbury
• Daniel Webster
  Daniel Webster
  Daniel Webster was a leading American statesman and senator from Massachusetts during the period leading up to the Civil War. He first rose to regional prominence through his defense of New England shipping interests...
  
  
• Calvin Willard

Portraits by E.T. Billings

Further reading

• George C Groce. New-York Historical Society's dictionary of artists in America. NY: 1957
• Mantle Fielding's Dictionary of American painters, sculptors & engravers.
• Edwin C Pancoast. Billings of Boston -- Yankee portrait painter : a new look at the life, times and work of Edwin Tryon Billings (1824-1893) and his early association with photography. Chevy Chase, Md.: Pancoast, 1990.
• Obituary. Boston Daily Globe, Oct 21, 1893

External links

• Smithsonian Art Inventories Catalog. "Billings, Edwin Tryon, 1824-1893, painter"
• http://www.preservationworcester.org/pages/tourmain.html