William H. Brown

William Henry Brown was a silhouettist born in Charleston, South Carolina, on 22 May 1808. He began his career as an artist in Philadelphia, about 1824. His first known silhouette is a portrait of Lafayette made during Lafayette's triumphal visit to Philadelphia in September 1824, when Brown was only sixteen. Brown's best known work, Portrait Gallery of Distinguished Americans, a collection of full-length silhouettes with biographical sketches, was published in Hartford, Connecticut, by E.B. & E.C. Kellogg in 1846. By 1859, silhouettes had largely been superceded by photographs, so Brown went to work for the railroad, first as an inspector of coal cars and later as a bridge inspector. Brown was twice married, first to Emeline M. Conrad in Philadelphia and Later to Margaret Ann Horrell in Erie, PA. Brown had two sons with each of his wives. He died in Charleston on September 16, 1883.

Note: This biography is based on information supplied by Marion Baker, a descendant of William Henry Brown. The biography that appears in Picturing Victorian America: Prints by the Kellogg Brothers of Hartford, Connecticut, 1830-1880, is incorrect in several particulars.