William R. Wheeler Sold at Auction Prices

Porträtmaler, Miniature painter, b. 1832 - d. 1894

William Wheeler was born in Scio, Michigan in 1832. Wheeler’s first art lessons were at the age of fifteen with a traveling painter of miniature portraits. Soon after he began painting professionally and earned enough selling his work to study for a year with Alvah Bradish, a well-known painter and art instructor.

Pursuing a livelier career, Wheeler moved to Hartford, Connecticut in 1862 and established a studio. His talent was soon recognized and he became well known for his precise and factual portraits. For the next thirty-two years Wheeler was one of Hartford’s most popular portrait painters, often commissioned by important civic leaders of his time. His particular talent was with children’s faces although he also painted adults and landscapes, which reflect the local scenery in Farmington, Bloomfield, and Talcott Mountain. Detailed landscapes were often found in the background of his portraits as well. Wheeler earned a respectable income painting these portraits for his middle-class clientele.

Active in the Hartford art community, Wheeler served on various committees and participated in several exhibitions. He was the vice president of the Hartford Art Association; he was also an officer of the Connecticut School of Design. In 1872, the Hartford Art Association held it’s first exhibition including several works by Wheeler as well as his contemporaries Gordon Trumbull, Charles N. Flagg, Robert Brandegee and Dwight Tryon. His paintings are held in many important collections including Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, Hartford, Connecticut; Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, Connecticut; Mattatcuk Museum, Waterbury, Connecticut; The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, Missouri; and The Hickory Museum of Art, Hickory, North Carolina.