View of the Piscataqua River from Noble's Wharf, Portsmouth,
New Hampshire. Signed and dated lower left J. S. Blunt 1824
Oil on canvas, 26 x 33 inches.
Collection of the Portsmouth Athenaeum, C06.509.
Gift of Joseph and Jean Sawtelle

Pivotal Events in the Life of John Samuel Blunt

1798 Born March 17, Portsmouth, NH. Eldest son of Captain Mark S. Blunt and Mary Sarah Drowne

1802 Great fire of Portsmouth, 132 buildings burned

1806 St. John's Church and 13 building lost in fire

1812 War with Britain

1813 Largest great fire of Portsmouth in which city lost nearly the entire central business district stopping only when it reached the Piscataqua River. A total of 244 buildings covering fifteen acres lost. Artist’s immediate and extended family amongst the claimants

1814 Oct. 1 Launching of the U.S. frigate Washington, the first ship to be built at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, Kittery, Maine, despite British threats

1815 Artist’s father lost at sea in West Indies

1816 His mother opens a boarding house in Portsmouth. JSB begins apprenticeship with Penniman in Boston

1819 Travels with portrait artist William P. Codman up the Merrimack River as far as Concord, NH seeking commissions for portraits, landscapes and fancy paintings

1821 Places ad in Portsmouth, NH, business directory as "Ornamental and Portrait Painter." October 13 marries Esther Peake Colby in Boston, MA

1822 Purchased property on Pleasant St. in Portsmouth, NH, adjacent to his widowed mother Mary Drowne

1824 Younger brother Mark drowns in Boston

1825. April 2nd advertises in Portsmouth Journal "Drawing and Painting School"

1826 Opens exhibition at his new painting establishment on State Street, Portmouth, NH. Death of his daughter Angelica Kauffman, aged 3 years

1827 Portsmouth Directory listed at corner Court and State St. Advertises he would execute "The FOLLOWING BRANCHES, VIZ "Portrait and miniature Painting, Military Standard do. Sign Painting, Plain and Ornamented, Landscape and Marine Painting, Masonic and Fancy do. Ship Ornaments Gilded and Painted, Oil and Burnish Gilding, Bronzing

1829 Birth of 4th child Charlotte Angelica and death of JSB’s mother

1830 Moves to Boston, MA. Sets up studio at 62 Cornhill and moves his family into a house on Castle Street

1835 Died at age 37 aboard the ship Ohio on a voyage from New Orleans to Boston

Frontispiece Artist’s sketchbook, 1830
Graphite on laid paper. 8 1/4 x 6 3/4 inches
Collection of the Portsmouth Athenaeum, S856