Henry S. Mount on His Death Bed

William Sidney Mount, who painted portraits, landscapes and genre scenes, was the younger brother of Henry Smith Mount, the subject of this work, and older brother to Shepard Alonzo Mount, both of whom were also artists. The three brothers were raised on a farm in Setauket, Long Island, New York. In 1824, William was apprenticed to Henry, who had established a successful sign and ornamental painting studio in New York City, and who also painted in oil and watercolor. By 1826, William entered the newly established school at the National Academy of Design. After launching a successful career as a painter, he later permanently moved back to eastern Long Island in 1837, where the local agricultural lifestyle and surroundings became the inspiration for many of his rural genre paintings, which brought him critical and popular renown. Mount became the leading genre painter in the country by the 1850s. The Met has several of his most famous works, including his politically charged painting Cider Making, 1840-41 (66.126). In 1841, Mount exhibited two works at the National Academy of Design; the first was "#302. Sketch of the late H. S. Mount" and the second, "Cider Making".