Artist Keywords

William Prior

William Matthew Prior (1806 - 1873) was active/lived in Massachusetts, Maine.  William Prior is known for Naive portrait-child, landscape.

Born in Bath, Maine, William Prior became an itinerant portrait and landscape painter who also painted on glass. In 1841, he settled in Boston after traveling and painting widely for ten years around New England. In 1824, he had been in Portland, Maine and lived there from 1831 to 1840. He advertised in the "Maine Inquirer" in 1831 that "persons who wished a flat picture can have a likeness whithout shade or shadow at one-quarter price" (Falk).

It was this style of primitive painting for which he became best known, but he also painted on glass with more sophistication, including copies of Gilbert Stuart's "Athenaeum" portrait of George Washington and portraits of Washington and his wife Martha. In his later years, he was assisted by his two sons, Gilbert and Matthew Prior. He called his studio The Painting Garret, and some of his works from the studio were signed "Painted in Prior's Garret". He was also the author of several religious books.

In Boston, he established a p   ...  [Displaying 1000 of 2152 characters.]  Artist bio

Artist auction records

.  askART's database currently holds 281 auction lots for William Prior (of which 226 auction records sold and 0 are upcoming at auction.)

Artist artworks for sale and wanted

.  There are 1 artworks for sale on our website by galleries and art dealers . There are 2 galleries and art dealers listing works of art by William Prior as either "Wanted" or "For Sale" .

Research resources

.  askART lists William Prior in 0 of its research Essays. William Prior has 2 artist signature examples available in our database.

Similar artists

.  There are 24 similar (related) artists for William Prior available:    Erastus Salisbury Field,  Micah Williams,  Deacon Robert Peckham,  Jacob Eichholtz,  Sturtevant J Hamblen,  Jacob Maentel,  Ammi Phillips,  Susan Catherine Moore Waters,  James Sr Sharples,  Zedekiah Belknap,  Thomas Griffin,  Joseph H Davis,  Scott (Nicholas Winfield) Leighton,  John Brewster Jr,  Joseph Stock,  Joseph (Jonathan) Blackburn,  Thomas Chambers,  James Sword,  Henry Inman,  Ralph Earl,  William Jennys,  James Bard,  Thomas Sully,  John (Colonel John) Trumbull