Charles Fraser (artist)

Portrait of Fraser by Alvan Fisher, 1819, now in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

Portrait of Christopher Gadsden, 1819, now in the Gibbes Museum of Art

Charles Fraser, an artist born at Charleston in 1782, studied law,^[1] but afterwards devoted himself to art. In 1825 he painted the portrait of Lafayette. His talent was very diversified, and in 1857, at an exhibition of his works at Charleston, there were shown 313 miniatures and 139 landscapes and other pieces by him. He was also a frequent orator in Charleston. For instance, he delivered the dedication address at Magnolia Cemetery in 1850.^[2] He also delivered an address on the dedication of a new building on the College of Charleston campus in 1828.^[3]

 In 1830, he was elected into the National Academy of Design as an Honorary Academician, and elected a member of the American Antiquarian Society in 1834.[4] He died at Charleston in 1860.

References

1. Fraser, Charles (1800–1819). Book of Precedents. Retrieved 2 September 2014.
2. Charles Fraser, Address Delivered on the Dedication of Magnolia Cemetery ... (Charleston, Walker & James 1850).
3. Charles Fraser, An Address Delivered Before the Citizens of Charleston and the Grand Lodge of South Carolina at the Laying of the Corner Stone of a New College Edifice (Jan. 12, 1828).
4. American Antiquarian Society Members Directory

Notes

This article incorporates text from the article "FRASER, Charles" in Bryan's Dictionary of Painters and Engravers by Michael Bryan, edited by Robert Edmund Graves and Sir Walter Armstrong, an 1886–1889 publication now in the public domain.