Frederic Porter Vinton: Early Studies

"The River Loing at Grez, France" by Frederic Porter Vinton

"While in the West, Frederic Porter Vinton had worked somewhat in pastel, and had painted a few ornamental signs. His spare hours were devoted largely to drawing, and an inborn instinct attracted him toward whatever pictures of merit came in his way. The time was in many respects fortunate for a young artist, since Boston in the sixties was being aesthetically enlightened by a group of vital and virile spirits, who, with William Morris Hunt at the head, had brought to this country an enthusiasm kindled in the Paris of Corot, Couture, Millet, Courbet, and the other masters of the Barbizon School. Albion Bicknell, John La Farge, Elihu Vedder, Foxcroft Cole, Winslow Homer, Thomas Robinson, and other men of less note gathered around Hunt. 

Long before any other city in the country had quickened to the influence of the new departure in art, Boston had not only responded to it, but had become the one market for canvases which then no other American city would buy, yet which are now recognized as masterpieces. Nowhere else in the land could a young man have found an atmosphere so wholesomely stimulating.

Vinton had come to the resolution to carry to Hunt some of his sketches. The famous artist perceived the talent in the crude work, and cheered the young man by saying: 'You've as much art as I had when I started; go ahead.' By his advice Vinton began to work more systematically. He entered the drawing classes of the Lowell Institute, and afterward took three courses of art anatomy under Dr. William Rimmer. He obtained permission to draw from the casts in the old Athenaeum gallery, and in an unpublished paper of reminiscences he writes:  

'The room was often closed in winter, and rarely heated. I have sat there in overcoat and gloves, drawing away for dear life until I could no longer see, - not feel, I was so benumbed by the cold. As I ramble through the Museum galleries now, I find my old friends in their new home, and rejoice with them in their prosperity. I wonder sometimes if their stony hearts did not pity the friendless, lonely boy who came day after day to that great cold room overlooking the old burying-ground to dream, to wonder, and to work.'"

To be continued

(Excerpts from "Memorial Exhibition of the Works of Frederic Porter Vinton" by Arlo Bates on behalf of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 1911.)