Albany Artist Ezra Ames: A Biography

Ezra Ames was born on May 5th, 1768 in Framingham, Massachusetts. He was the fourth child of Jesse Emes and Betty Bent.

Prior to the 1800s, printed documents were scarce and there was usually no generally accepted spelling for many words. Most words were written phonetically; whatever combination of letters caused a person to say the intended word was accepted.
Thus Ames was written by various members of the family as Eames, Emmes, Eammes, Eams, Emms and Ems. They all sounded the same when pronounced and that was all that mattered; they almost never wrote it. In fact, in earlier life, Ezra Ames wrote his own name as Ezra Eames. Thus Jesse Emes was the father of Ezra Eames who later became Ezra Ames.

Ezra was a descendant of Thomas Emes (1618-1681), who settled in Framingham, Massachusetts in 1634. In 1637, Thomas fought in the Pequot War. He was a brick mason, committeeman and was on the committee that built the Framingham meetinghouse. On February 1st, 1676, during the King Philip’s War (also known by other names), Thomas’ farmhouse was attacked and his wife and five children were killed and four others carried into captivity. His house was looted and burned to the ground.

One of Thomas’ sons, John, survived and continued on as a mason and selectman. John’s grandson, Jesse, answered the call for militia following the Revolutionary War battles at Concord and Lexington and served in the Colonial Army in 1775 and 1776. After the war, Jesse moved his family to a farm on the Hudson River south of Albany. Jesse had a son Ezra.

Ezra Ames began his career in painting in Worcester, Massachusetts in about 1790. The first items he painted were furniture. His first recorded job was painting two chaises for Esquire Allen, then a chimney piece and a sleigh. He painted a sign for Daniel Waldo.

On December 4th, 1790, he recorded his first traditional artwork when he painted three miniatures.

Ames kept busy with a variety of painting work. In 1791, he painted and lettered 12 fire buckets for the Worcester Fire Department. In Albany at that time each household was mandated by local law to maintain three filled fire buckets in the hall of every house. Whenever there was a fire, each resident reported with his bucket. The buckets were undoubtedly mixed together and it became important to be able to reclaim your bucket, and since they hung in the front hall, people wanted them to look attractive. Ames painted and lettered many personal fire buckets.

His recorded work in 1791 included painting at least 13 signs, two sleighs, four chaises, three clock faces, two fences, a sun blind, a looking glass and a chimney back. He also recorded painting and papering two rooms, varnishing four bedposts, painting a floor, a door, a carpet, a wagon, a chest of drawers, two cherubs and some flowerpots. He painted miniatures for 18 shillings and portraits for 1 pound 10 shillings.

In 1793 Ames started to work in Albany for the first time. One of his first patrons was Major Livingston (probably Major Henry Livingston). When he finished the paintings for Major Livingston, he took them by sloop to the city of New York where he visited the theater and the museum, paid lodging and bought painting supplies. He also spent 3 shillings 6 pence for a “Jug of gin.”

After his visit to New York, Ames returned to Albany. Albany in 1789 had about 600 homes. The post office was started in 1784; the first theater was started in 1785; first public library in 1792 and the streets were first illuminated with oil in 1795.

On August 1st, 1793, Ames placed the following notice in the Albany newspapers:

“In Mark Lane, just below Bloodgood & Follet’s store. Painting – Portrait and Sign Painting, Gilding and Limning. The Subscriber solicits the patronage of the admirers of the Fine Arts of Painting, Portraits, Miniatures and Hair Devices. From the encouragement he has already received, he flatters himself of giving general satisfaction. Those who are not satisfied with his performance will not be compelled to have the work when it is finished. Gentlemen and ladies will be waited upon in any part of the city. Signs, Coaches, Chaises, Sleighs, Standards, &c. painted in the best manner. Orders from the country will be received and attended to – and all favors gratefully acknowledged by their humble servant, Ezra Ames.”

At first, work in Albany was slow. Ames recorded the sale of small items such as a penknife, knee buckles, a shaving box and a “neckless,” all items he probably decorated. By 1794, however, he was very busy doing “12 signs, 6 sleighs, 7 buckets, a signboard, table, water tub, chests, curtains, a sulkey, timepiece cases,” etc. Since photography had not yet been invented, it was tradition for most people, who could afford it, to have their portrait painted at least once or twice in their lifetime. Some artists even went door-to-door offering their services for a relatively low rate. In 1794, Ames did at least a dozen miniatures and two portraits. Two of the miniatures were of Governor George Clinton and his wife.

On October 6th, 1794, Ames married Zipporah Wood of Northbridge, Massachusetts. Within a year their first child, Lucretia, was born but died in infancy.

Ames became an active Freemason in Albany in 1797. He found considerable work painting and engraving Masonic regalia, medals and certificates. By this time, Albany had almost 1,100 houses, almost double the number of 1789. At about this time Ames recorded the sale of two pictures of Solomon’s Temple and the city of Jerusalem to William James, grandfather of authors William and Henry James. He also painted a sign and lettered James’ store. Years later, Ames’ daughter, Marcia Lucretia, married James’ son, the Reverend William James.

Ames also did a large amount of engraving, monogramming spoons, rings, sugar tongs, whips, sleeve buttons, snuff boxes, needle boxes and Masonic symbols. He worked for N.B. Bassett, an Albany clockmaker, painting clock faces. In December 1799, Ames moved from Mark Lane to 41 Washington Street (later South Pearl Street). In May 1801, Ames recorded that he gilded the clock hands at the Dutch Church.

In 1802, the Masons awarded Ames the high office of the Most Excellent Grand High Priest of the Grand Chapter of New York, a position to which he would be re-elected annually for the next 24 years. Ames had been an organizer of the Albany Mechanics Society in 1793. Renowned Albany architect Philip Hooker was listed as vice president.

In 1811, Ames painted four pictures to be used as furnishings on steamboats. The first was for the steamboat North River of Clermont, later known as the Clermont, Robert Fulton’s first commercial steamboat, owned by Fulton and Robert Livingston. The North River was the original Dutch name for the Hudson River; Clermont was the name of Livingston’s home.

Ames submitted a portrait for the First Annual Exhibition of the Society of Artists of the United States, held in Philadelphia. Although his Portrait of a Youth was received too late for judging, it was listed in the program. The second year, Ames submitted a portrait of Governor George Clinton that was shown as part of the exhibition. It received much critical acclaim and was purchased by the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, its first acquisition.

Ames was very prolific over the next few years, painting many portraits, as well as some landscapes and outdoor scenes, including views of Lake George. He did work for John Tayler (later governor of New York) and several for P.S. Van Rensselaer (probably Philip Van Rensselaer). He did two portraits for public commissions: George Washington and George Clinton for the Executive Chamber at the New York State Capitol in Albany.

In 1814, Ames was elected to the Board of the Mechanics and Farmers Bank of Albany, located on the northeast corner of Court and Exchange streets. Being elected a director of an Albany bank probably indicated that Ames was doing well financially, as directorships were usually given to the largest depositors and customers.

In 1816, Ames painted a sign for the S. & M. Allen Company for “Allen’s Truly Lucky Lottery Office,” that advertised in the Albany Register. In 1817, he painted another sign for “Allen’s Lottery Office” and charged $100. He painted a sign for a tobacco shop showing two period figures, Darby and Joan, holding hands and happily smoking their pipes.

Ames also painted a “Pocahuntas” sign for tobacconist George Pearson. One of his portraits from around this time was Gouverneur Morris now at Columbia University. He also painted portraits of DeWitt Clinton and his wife, John Tayler, Solomon Southwick, Harmanus Bleecker and Stephen Van Rensselaer. He executed three or four paintings of fish for DeWitt Clinton.

Ames’ portrait of Solomon Van Rensselaer was acquired by P.T. Barnum but lost when Barnum’s American Museum burned down on July 13th, 1865. Another Ames painting of Solomon Van Rensselaer is at Cherry Hill Mansion. In 1819 Ames painted the sign for Albany’s famous Eagle Tavern.

When the Albany Lockgate on the Erie Canal was officially opened on October 8th, 1823, the first boat entering the lock was the “DeWitt Clinton carrying Governor Yates, the Mayor and Corporation of Albany [Mayor Charles Edward Dudley and the Albany Common Council members], the canal commissioners [including Stephen Van Rensselaer] and engineers, the committee [including Chairman William James] and other citizens.” With great ceremony, the Freemasons placed the capstone.

The Grand High Priest of the Freemasons was Ezra Ames. He gave an exhortation, placed the capstone, consecrated the capstone with corn, wine and oil and offered a benediction. This ceremony was later referred to as the First Erie Canal Celebration. The second celebration would be held when the entire canal was finished in 1825. Ames would also be master of ceremonies at that celebration.

Over the next few years Ames painted portraits of Marcus Tullius Reynolds, William James (now at Union College), James’ wife Catherine Barber, Colonel Benjamin Talmadge, Ambrose Spencer’s wife (sister of DeWitt Clinton), Eliphalet Nott, Gerrit Yates Lansing, and others.

Ames’ studio was on the third floor, up two flights of stairs in a back room at 41 South Pearl. The third floor was crowded with picture frames and old lumber. A large rocking chair was placed in front of a semi-circular screen on an elevated platform. This was the location where he placed his sitters near a dim oil lamp that (according to him) “sometimes worked.”

An adjacent large room, his showroom, was hung round with many portraits of great men, all original oils. These were for sale. They included paintings of five Presidents, four governors and many notables including Stephen Van Rensselaer III, General Peter Gansevoort, Alexander Hamilton, and Chancellor Robert Livingston. Ames made a new duplicate painting from the existing one whenever he sold a painting.

Another small room, about 10 feet square, was off the large room and shelved floor to ceiling with books on two walls and choice paintings from Italy on the others. These books and paintings were for Ames’ personal enjoyment. In 1834, Ames was elected president of Mechanics and Farmers Bank where he had been serving as a board member. He replaced Benjamin Knower, father-in-law of Governor William L. Marcy.

Ames only missed one meeting of the Board of Directors of Mechanics and Farmer’s Bank from the time he was appointed until his death, a total of 22 years. He died on February 23rd, 1836. Notices appeared in the Albany Evening Journal and the Albany Argus. Dr. Alden March was the attending physician.

Ames’ major contribution to history was the portraits he painted of important people of the day. Some are the only remaining likeness of the individual and some were of such high quality that they were mis-attributed to America’s most highly renowned portrait painters. Experts had attributed his portrait of William James to Gilbert Stuart. However his full-length and group paintings were primitive. His positioning of arms and legs frequently looked unnatural and awkward.

In conformance with tradition of the day, attendance at his funeral was by invitation only. Twenty sleighs formed the funeral procession. A team of horses pulling a black funeral hearse with sleigh runners carried the casket through the snow-covered Albany streets.

The funeral procession went to the city’s State Street Burial Ground on State and Knox streets, later the eastern end of Washington Park. In 1868, Ames’ son Angelo purchased a family burial plot at Albany Rural Cemetery and moved his mother, father and brother, Julius, to Lot 1, Section 59.

The Albany County Surrogates Court valued Ames’ estate at $65,953.61, a substantial amount in 1836. He also left a considerable amount of real estate to his heirs.

Ezra Ames, his wife Zipporah and sons Julius and Angelo are buried in the Ames family plot at Albany Rural Cemetery. His daughter, Marcia Lucretia James, is buried in the James family plot, also at Albany Rural.

Illustration: self portrait of Ezra Ames.