Born in Francestown, New Hampshire, Aaron Shattuck was educated there and in Lowell, Massachusetts. He studied portrait and landscape painting with Alexander Ramson in Boston during 1851 and then moved to New York where he studied at the the National Academy of Design.

In 1856, he was elected an Associate Member of the Academy, and rented space in the now famous Studio Building on West Tenth Street. He exhibited regularly in Boston and New York and was closely associated with John Kensett, John Casilear and Jasper Cropsey. He also had a summer studio in Jackson, New Hampshire.

He was a second-generation Hudson School painter and specialized in scenes of the White Mountains of New Hampshire. Married to the sister of artist Samuel Colman, he was one of the first artists to paint on Monhegan Island in Maine. Many of his paintings are of animals in landscape and are scenes from his farm in Granby, Connecticut.

Shattuck was also an inventor, patenting a special stretcher frame in the 1880s and he made violins. I llness forced him to quit painting about 1885.

The Catalog Raisonne may be viewed at www.salmonbrookhistoricalsociety.com

Source:
David Zellman, 300 Years of American Art
Peter Falk, Who Was Who in American Art
Heritage Auctions
David Kimball, Chairman Catalog Raisonne Committee at Salmon Brook Historical Society

Aaron Draper Shattuck ranks as a first class artist of the 2nd generation Hudson River School. He exhibited regularly with such artists as John Kensett and Samuel Colman. His paintings range in subject from White Mountain scenes to animal pictures. Shattuck was at his best with his preference for smaller canvases.

His love of nature was translated into small, detailed paintings , highlighted with elm trees, luminious sky, and rough New England rocks. In 1868 Shattuck bought a 28 acre farm in Granby, Connecticut. It was here that he painted his favorite sheep and cattle.

The following was taken from French's book of Artists in Connecticut in 1879. "The artist is a faithful student of his art, and at present makes a specialty of sheep and cows, where he excells many and is excelled by few".

He was also a successful inventor and had various patents ranging in subject from metal stretcher keys to tobacco barn ventilation. When his eyesight deteriorated in 1888, he finished his career as a violin maker. He was always known as an affable gentleman.

In 1856 he was elected associate member of the National Academy, and in 1861, he was Elected to full National Academician. From 1874 - 1877 he exhibited paintings of sheep and cattle at the Brooklyn Art Association and the National Academy.

In 1925 the last painting he exhibited was Sheep Near The Sea at the National Academy Centenial Exhibition.

In 1928 he died at the age of 98 years at his farm in Granby, Connecticut.