Introduction • Life • Art • Gallery • Learn More • Acknowledgments

Samuel L. Gerry was a versatile artist who worked in a variety of genres, including still lifes, rural scenes of people and animals, narrative subjects based on literary or religious writings, and portraiture.

Commissions to paint portraits provided a secure and steady income in Gerry’s early years as an artist, as it did for many of his contemporaries. In fact, he first distinguished himself as a miniature portrait painter, receiving an award at the Massachusetts Charitable Mechanic Association fair in 1837 for “Four Miniatures.” Gerry was identified in a Boston city directory as a portrait painter as late as 1854, long after he had become known for his landscapes.

Although oils were Gerry’s preferred medium, he also experimented with watercolor and charcoal. It was particularly in the last decade of his life that he embraced these other media. In the late 19th century, watercolor art was experiencing something of a revival among professionals, who earlier considered it suitable for sketching only.