Erastus Salisbury Field (1805-1900)
Erastus Salisbury Field is one of the new Republic’s most highly regarded folk painters as well as one of the most highly documented – with over 1,000 signed or attributed works known, ten to fifteen of them signed.
Field, (born in Liverett, Massachusetts on May 19, 1805) worked in central New England during the 1824 to 1842 period, mostly in Massachusetts and Connecticut. He is distinguished as one of the few itinerant folk artists working full-time at their craft, and as one of the few with any professional training – having studied for three months at the age of 24 with Samuel Morse in New York city.
Several specific techniques are characteristic of Field’s portraits, among them the inclusion of a lighter cloud-like halo around the sitter’s head. A stiff formal pose, elf-like ears and distinctive red knuckles are also often found. Seating his subject in a red chair or placing a family group on a patterned stenciled floor or carpet was a common Field technique.
Field spent his later career (after about 1854) in Massachusetts working as a photographer, teacher and theme painter. Few late period Field portraits are known.