Thomas Le Clear

Place: Owego

Born: 1818

Death: 1882

Biography:

Thomas Le Clear was an American painter born in Owego, New York in 1818. He sold his first paintings at the age of 12 and began to follow art professionally before having any instruction. He continued to teach himself by studying the painting of other artists. When he was fourteen, he moved to London, Canada, with his father and painted portraits there. He painted portraits in Elmira, and in Rochester, before moving to New York City in 1839, when he was twenty-one. There he studied for several years under Henry Inman. From 1844 to 1860, he resided in Buffalo, where he was a founding member of the Buffalo Fine Arts Academy. He returned to New York City in the early 1860s, and was elected a National Academician in 1863. Le Clear died of pleurisy on November 26, 1882, at his home in Rutherford, New Jersey, at the age of 64.