Thomas Prichard Rossiter (1817-71) was an American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 portrait and historical painter. He was born in New Haven

New Haven, Connecticut

New Haven is the second-largest city in Connecticut and the sixth-largest in New England. According to the 2010 Census, New Haven's population increased by 5.0% between 2000 and 2010, a rate higher than that of the State of Connecticut, and higher than that of the state's five largest cities, and...

, Conn.

Connecticut

Connecticut is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, and the state of New York to the west and the south .Connecticut is named for the Connecticut River, the major U.S. river that approximately...

, and studied there with Nathaniel Jocelyn

Nathaniel Jocelyn

Nathaniel Jocelyn was an American painter.He was born in New Haven, Connecticut, the son of a clockmaker and engraver. He trained as a watchmaker, later taking up drawing, engraving, and oil painting...

. In 1838-40 he painted portraits in London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

 and Paris

Paris

Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...

 and from 1841 to 1846 he lived in Rome

Rome

Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...

. In 1849 he was elected to the National Academy

Académie des beaux-arts

The Académie des Beaux-Arts is a French learned society. It is one of the five academies of the Institut de France.It was created in 1795 as the merger of the:* Académie de peinture et de sculpture...

 and he had a studio in Paris from 1853 to 1856, winning a gold medal at the Universal Exposition

Exposition Universelle (1855)

The Exposition Universelle of 1855 was an International Exhibition held on the Champs-Elysées in Paris from May 15 to November 15, 1855. Its full official title was the Exposition Universelle des produits de l'Agriculture, de l'Industrie et des Beaux-Arts de Paris 1855.The exposition was a major...

 of 1855 for his "Venice in the Fifteenth Century."

He painted a series of pictures illustrating the life of Christ

Christ

Christ is the English term for the Greek meaning "the anointed one". It is a translation of the Hebrew , usually transliterated into English as Messiah or Mashiach...

. Though his work was admired during his lifetime, it is of little artistic merit. Among his best-known paintings are:

• "Signing of the Constitution" (ca 1860-1870), hosted at Independence National Historical Park
  Independence National Historical Park
  Independence National Historical Park is a United States National Historical Park in Philadelphia that preserves several sites associated with the American Revolution and the nation's founding history. Administered by the National Park Service, the park comprises much of the downtown historic...
  
   and used by Common-Place http://www.historycooperative.org/journals/cp/vol-02/no-04/roundtable/.
• "Jews in Captivity"
• "The Wise and Foolish Virgins"
• "The Home of Washington" (1858), painted together with Mignot.
• "Washington's First Cabinet"
• "The Last Hours of Tasso
  Torquato Tasso
  Torquato Tasso was an Italian poet of the 16th century, best known for his poem La Gerusalemme liberata , in which he depicts a highly imaginative version of the combats between Christians and Muslims at the end of the First Crusade, during the siege of Jerusalem...
  
  "
• "Spilt Milk"
• "Portrait of a Huge Penis"

In 1860 he designed a house, Fair Lawn

Fair Lawn (Cold Spring, New York)

Fair Lawn is a house located off NY 9D just south of Cold Spring, New York, United States. It was designed by the painter Thomas Prichard Rossiter, who moved into it for the last decade of his life.Subsequent owners modified the house slightly...

, overlooking the Hudson River

Hudson River

The Hudson is a river that flows from north to south through eastern New York. The highest official source is at Lake Tear of the Clouds, on the slopes of Mount Marcy in the Adirondack Mountains. The river itself officially begins in Henderson Lake in Newcomb, New York...

. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places

National Register of Historic Places

The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...

.