Skip to main content
Junius Brutus Stearns
Junius Brutus Stearns
Junius Brutus Stearns

Junius Brutus Stearns

born Arlington, Vermont, 1810; died New York, New York, 1885
BiographyJunius Brutus Stearns was born in Arlington, Vermont, and moved to New York at the age of 17. Initially he worked as a portrait painter, but as the demand for portraits took a downturn owing to the invention of the daguerreotype, Stearns began to take a stronger interest in history painting. He lived his whole life in the East except for a three-year stint in Europe starting in 1847, when he traveled to London, Paris, and Rome to study the work of the Old Masters. Stearns is probably best known for his five-part series depicting the life of George Washington, which he began in the late 1840s. He was also very active in the National Academy of Design in New York City, gaining admittance in 1849 and later serving as recording secretary. Stearns focused on scenes of daily life later in his career until his death from injuries suffered in a carriage accident near his home in Brooklyn in 1885.
Person TypeIndividual
Terms
  • Arlington
  • New York
Seth Eastman
born Brunswick, Maine, 1808; died Washington, D.C., 1875
George Catlin
born Wilkes Barre, Pennsylvania, 1796; died Jersey City, New Jersey, 1872
Charles Deas
born Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1818; died New York, New York, 1867
Thomas Mickell Burnham
born Boston, Massachusetts, 1818; died Boston, Massachusetts, 1866
JPEG
born Orchard Park, New York, 1852; died Missoula, Montana, 1919
John Mix Stanley
born Canandaigua, New York, 1814; died Detroit, Michigan, 1872
David McCosh
born Cedar Rapids, Iowa, 1903; died Eugene, Oregon, 1981
Mihály Munkácsy
born Munkács, Hungary, 1844; died Endenesch, Germany, 1900
Robert Henri
born Cincinnati, Ohio, 1865; died New York, New York, 1929
Edward Sheriff Curtis
born Whitewater, Wisconsin, 1868; died Los Angeles, California, 1952
Charles Banks Wilson
born Springdale, Washington, 1918; died Rogers, Arkansas, 2013