Emmeline Beach

Abbott Handerson Thayer (1849–1921)

1881

Oil on canvas

Gift of Sewell C. Biggs; 1992.47

Boston-born Abbott Handerson Thayer began his art studies at the Brooklyn Art School and the National Academy of Design before spending four years at the École de Beaux-Arts in Paris. Thayer achieved recognition for his dramatic landscapes and romantic figures; here, the portrait is of his second wife. Despite moving to isolated New Hampshire, Thayer achieved financial success through the support of his influential patrons and teaching.