User:Rgeilfuss/Samuel Addison Shute and Ruth Whittier Shute

Samuel Addison Shute (1803-1836) and Ruth Whittier Shute (1803-1882) were a unique husband and wife team of itinerant portrait painters active in New England and New York State during the 1830s. Samuel was a professional physician, a free mason, and an orator as well as a painter. He married his wife in 1827. Together they painted many portraits, some of which are now in celebrated collections, such as those of the American Folk Art Museum’s and the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s.

Many of their portraits depict young working class women who had migrated from their family homes to work in the textile mills that were then a vibrant part of the industrial economy of New England. After Samuel Addison Shute died in 1836 while still in his early 30’s, his widow moved to Lexington, Kentucky, where she continued to paint for another 45 years.

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