Box, Artist's
- Object Name:
- Box, Artist's
- Object ID:
- 2021.010
- Place of Origin:
- United States
- Date:
- circa 1880
- Description:
- Portable paint box, used by Benjamin Champney (1817-1907). Rectangular box of tin-plated sheet iron, painted black on all surfaces, inside and out. Hinged lid with gold and red border. Turned wooden bail handle, painted black. Two adjustable wire loops attached to ends. "BENJAMIN CHAMPNEY" stenciled in gold with red accent lines on inside of cover. Two removable interior trays. Two coil springs in larger tray, which also has a hinged cover on right side. Underneath larger tray is a compartment with 16 tin dividers for paints.
- Material:
- Metal
Tin
Iron
Wood - Dimensions:
- H-2.4 W-9.4 L-13.4 inches
- Provenance:
- Artist Benjamin Champney, son of Benjamin and Rebecca (Brooks) Champney, was born in New Ipswich, NH, in 1817. He attended district school and the Appleton Academy, New Ipswich, before finally being apprenticed to Robert Moore of Boston as a lithographer in 1835. In 1838 he made the first of many drawing trips to the White Mountains, where he found inspiration for his paintings for the rest of his life. Initially a lithographer, during the 1840s he established a studio on Boston and focused on landscape painting, traveling through Maine, Vermont, the Berkshires, and the Catskills. In 1853 Champney married Mary Caroline Brooks (1829-1876) of Woburn, MA, and they purchased a home in North Conway, NH, where he spent summers producing and selling paintings to tourists. A member of the Boston Art Club, he frequently exhibited paintings there as well as at the Boston Athenaeum, National Academy of Design, American Art Union, and Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts. Champney traveled to Europe in 1841, 1847, and 1865 for study and inspiration. When not visiting Europe, the artist divided his time between homes in North Conway and Woburn, MA, where he died in 1907.
- Credit Line:
- New Hampshire Historical Society Purchase
- People:
- Champney, Benjamin (1817-1907)
- Subjects:
- Artists, Artists' materials
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