William Houghton Sprague Pearce
Encyclopedia
William Houghton Sprague Pearce also known as W.H.S. Pearce (August 5, 1864 - April 15, 1935), an American
artist
, was born in Boston to Mary Anna Sprague Pearce and Shadrach Houghton Pearce. His father ran a successful Chinese importing business. He was descended from many of Massachusetts's founding and historical figures. His grandfather was Charles Sprague
, an early American poet known as the "Banker Poet of Boston". His great grandfather, Samuel Sprague, was a Patriot
of the Revolutionary period and a participant in the Boston Tea Party
who served under George Washington. He also is descended from Richard Warren, a Mayflower
passenger and signer of the Mayflower Compact and The Rev. Peter Hobart of Hingham.
William was a graduate of the English High School in Boston, Massachusetts in 1882. In a Letter of Recommendation from the headmaster he is described as "a young man of unexceptionable moral character and a very good scholar" whom he could "confidently recommend as one who, in everything and under all circumstances, will do his best for his employer". He married Miriam Dix Badlam in Dorchester in 1889 and raised three children, (Harold, Charles and Miriam), in Newton, Massachusetts.
Although 13 years his junior he remained close to his older brother, the noted American expatriate painter, Charles Sprague Pearce
. Charles moved to Paris in 1873 at the age of 22 to study in the atelier of Leon Bonnet and pursue a career as a painter. Although separated by an ocean the two brothers remained close through a series of four decades of letters and several personal visits. Will often sent his older brother photographs of his work asking him for advise and criticism. These letters exchanged thoughts and ideas, painting techniques of composition, values, lighting, painting styles and pricing until the death of Charles in France in 1914.
William grew up in an artistic and cultured family that encouraged his interests in literature, art and music and he pursued them his entire life. He enjoyed the newly developing art form of photography and played both the violin and cello. He was employed by the New England Mutual Life Insurance Company which provided him a steady income and the opportunity to support his family while continuing to paint. Many of his paintings hung in the New England Mutual Life Insurance building, and they were often used for the banks yearly calendars (1891, 1899, 1901). His works were exhibited and he sold a good amount of his work. He had a talent with music, limericks and stories and wrote under the pseudonym of Carol Vox. A series of whimsical children's books and the Sphinx and the Mummy. a book of limericks, were illustrated by his longtime friend, the well known illustrator and painter, H. Boylston Dummer.
He spent many summers at a large family country residence in Walpole, Massachusetts painting the scenic vistas. He is also known to have painted in Rockport, Massachusetts with his friends, Lester Stevens
and Marshall Johnson, Provincetown, the Berkshires and the Lynn marshes. Although best known for his landscapes he did some portrait work of his wife and daughter, Miriam. A favorite and recurring theme of Williams was cows, a subject he studied and he studied and painted at great length. His grand daughter remembers him keeping a stuffed cow's head in his studio in Newton that he used as a model and also of him using a mirror to look at his subjects instead of looking at them directly. Every evening he would go to the back yard where he had a platform and paint a sunset.
William Houghton Sprague Pearce died in Boston in 1935 on April 16 and is buried in the Cedar Grove Cemetery in Dorchester, Massachusetts.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
artist
Artist
An artist is a person engaged in one or more of any of a broad spectrum of activities related to creating art, practicing the arts and/or demonstrating an art. The common usage in both everyday speech and academic discourse is a practitioner in the visual arts only...
, was born in Boston to Mary Anna Sprague Pearce and Shadrach Houghton Pearce. His father ran a successful Chinese importing business. He was descended from many of Massachusetts's founding and historical figures. His grandfather was Charles Sprague
Charles Sprague (poet)
Charles Sprague was an early American poet. He worked for 45 years for the State and Globe Banks and was often referred to as the "Banker Poet of Boston". His odes and prologues won several competitive prizes and were collected and published in 1841 as The Writings of Charles Sprague.-Personal...
, an early American poet known as the "Banker Poet of Boston". His great grandfather, Samuel Sprague, was a Patriot
Patriot (American Revolution)
Patriots is a name often used to describe the colonists of the British Thirteen United Colonies who rebelled against British control during the American Revolution. It was their leading figures who, in July 1776, declared the United States of America an independent nation...
of the Revolutionary period and a participant in the Boston Tea Party
Boston Tea Party
The Boston Tea Party was a direct action by colonists in Boston, a town in the British colony of Massachusetts, against the British government and the monopolistic East India Company that controlled all the tea imported into the colonies...
who served under George Washington. He also is descended from Richard Warren, a Mayflower
Mayflower
The Mayflower was the ship that transported the English Separatists, better known as the Pilgrims, from a site near the Mayflower Steps in Plymouth, England, to Plymouth, Massachusetts, , in 1620...
passenger and signer of the Mayflower Compact and The Rev. Peter Hobart of Hingham.
William was a graduate of the English High School in Boston, Massachusetts in 1882. In a Letter of Recommendation from the headmaster he is described as "a young man of unexceptionable moral character and a very good scholar" whom he could "confidently recommend as one who, in everything and under all circumstances, will do his best for his employer". He married Miriam Dix Badlam in Dorchester in 1889 and raised three children, (Harold, Charles and Miriam), in Newton, Massachusetts.
Although 13 years his junior he remained close to his older brother, the noted American expatriate painter, Charles Sprague Pearce
Charles Sprague Pearce
-Biography:Pearce was born at Boston, Massachusetts. In 1873 he became a pupil of Léon Bonnat in Paris, and after 1885 he lived in Paris and at Auvers-sur-Oise. He painted Egyptian and Algerian scenes, French peasants, and portraits, and also decorative work, notably for the Thomas Jefferson...
. Charles moved to Paris in 1873 at the age of 22 to study in the atelier of Leon Bonnet and pursue a career as a painter. Although separated by an ocean the two brothers remained close through a series of four decades of letters and several personal visits. Will often sent his older brother photographs of his work asking him for advise and criticism. These letters exchanged thoughts and ideas, painting techniques of composition, values, lighting, painting styles and pricing until the death of Charles in France in 1914.
William grew up in an artistic and cultured family that encouraged his interests in literature, art and music and he pursued them his entire life. He enjoyed the newly developing art form of photography and played both the violin and cello. He was employed by the New England Mutual Life Insurance Company which provided him a steady income and the opportunity to support his family while continuing to paint. Many of his paintings hung in the New England Mutual Life Insurance building, and they were often used for the banks yearly calendars (1891, 1899, 1901). His works were exhibited and he sold a good amount of his work. He had a talent with music, limericks and stories and wrote under the pseudonym of Carol Vox. A series of whimsical children's books and the Sphinx and the Mummy. a book of limericks, were illustrated by his longtime friend, the well known illustrator and painter, H. Boylston Dummer.
He spent many summers at a large family country residence in Walpole, Massachusetts painting the scenic vistas. He is also known to have painted in Rockport, Massachusetts with his friends, Lester Stevens
Lester Stevens
Lester Barber Stevens was an American athlete. He competed at the 1908 Summer Olympics in London....
and Marshall Johnson, Provincetown, the Berkshires and the Lynn marshes. Although best known for his landscapes he did some portrait work of his wife and daughter, Miriam. A favorite and recurring theme of Williams was cows, a subject he studied and he studied and painted at great length. His grand daughter remembers him keeping a stuffed cow's head in his studio in Newton that he used as a model and also of him using a mirror to look at his subjects instead of looking at them directly. Every evening he would go to the back yard where he had a platform and paint a sunset.
William Houghton Sprague Pearce died in Boston in 1935 on April 16 and is buried in the Cedar Grove Cemetery in Dorchester, Massachusetts.