PAGE, WthmANI, b. Albany, N. Y., 1811; at the age of eight years went to New York with his parents, studied drawing, and three years afterward received a premium from the American institute for a drawing in India ink. Iu 1825 he commenced the study of law iu the office of Fredrick De Peyster, hut left it to learn the art of portrait painting of Herring, with whom he remained a year, and afterward entered the studio of Samuel F. B. Morse, artist, sculptor, inventor of the telegraph, and author of a portrait of Lafayette in the New York city hall, who, in connection with other artists, organized a drawing-school which resulted in the establishment, in 1826, of the national academy of design. By the influence of Mr. Morse he was admitted as a student at the academy, and for his drawings from the antique was awarded a large silver medal. In 1828 he joined the Presbyterian church, and removing to Andover, Mass., began the study of theology, and went from there to Amherst, in that state, intending to fit himself for the ministry, but returned to his artist life in 1830. He passed a year in Albany painting portraits, and was considered a painter of great promise, excelling in brilliancy of color and accuracy of drawing. Returning to New York he was admitted as a mem ber of the national academy. Among his most valued works are a portrait of goy. Marcy in the New York city hall, that of John Quincy Adams in Faneuil hall, Boston: "The Holy'Family" in the Boston athenaeum, "The Wife's Last Visit to her Condemned Hus band," and "The Infancy of Henri IV." in 1844 lie established himself in Boston and industriously followed his profession. In 1847-49 he resided in New York, and in the latter year went abroad, living 11 years in Italy studying in Rome and Florence. He is said
to have made such literal copies of Titian that they were mistaken for the originals even by the residents of Florence. While in Italy he painted the portraits of several distin guished Englishmen and American tourists and residents abroad, and among his produc tions of that period are his two Arenuses, " Moses and Aaron on Mount Horeb," " TheYlight into Egypt," and " The Infant Bacchus." In 1860 he returned to the United States and took up his residence in Eagleswood, near Perth Amboy, N. J., after a time building a house on Siaten Island, and painting in his studio in New York. He has delivered several courses a of lectures on art, and in 1870 painted a portrait of Christ, which was placed on exhibition, and was the subject of considerable critical controversy. lie was president of the academy of design 'in 1871-73. From photographs of the Kesselstadt mask of Shakespeare, pre served in Germany, he has produced a bust of the poet, making the journey to that conn irs' for the purpose, and has painted portraits from it. Among recent portraits are those of Henry Ward Beecher, Charles A. Dana, Parke Godwin, Wendell Phillips, and, about 1876, a full length representation of "Farragut at the Battle of Mobile," which was pre sented to the late emperor of Russia by a committee who purchased it. He published in 1860, A Neu' Geometrical _Method of Aleasuring the Human Figure, based upon the models of the antique, and is distinguished as a colorist, for which department of the art of paint ing he has advanced original theories, and as an accurate draughtsman.