Matthew Pratt
born Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1734; died Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1805
Artist Matthew Pratt began learning his craft at the age of fifteen as an assistant in his uncle's commercial painting establishment. After a seven-year apprenticeship, he opened his own shop in Philadelphia and began painting likenesses. In 1764 he went to England to improve his artistic capacities under the tutelage of Benjamin West. While there, he painted the most famous of early American group portraits, The American School, depicting West instructing some of his colonial protégés.
In 1768 Pratt returned to Philadelphia, where he earned a comfortable living primarily as a portraitist. The economic upheavals of the American Revolution, however, forced him to resort to sign-painting for his livelihood, and it was said that the unusual beauty of his signs for Philadelphia's commercial establishments made them unique.
Person TypeIndividual
Terms
- Philadelphia
- Philadelphia
born Aizubange, Japan, 1907; died Tokyo, Japan, 1997
born Orchard Park, New York, 1852; died Missoula, Montana, 1919
Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation, born Omak, Washington, 1953
born Everett, Massachusetts, 1866; died College Point, New York, 1947
born Garden Valley, Idaho, 1899; died Boise, Idaho, 1977
born Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, 1841; died Saint Peter, Minnesota, 1918
born Wilkes Barre, Pennsylvania, 1796; died Jersey City, New Jersey, 1872
born Kingstown, Rhode Island, 1755; died Boston, Massachusetts, 1828
born Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1818; died New York, New York, 1867
born Cincinnati, Ohio, 1865; died New York, New York, 1929
born Springville, Utah, 1861; died Arlington Heights, Massachusetts, 1944