FREDERICK BATCHELLER

Frederick Stone Batcheller, musician and painter, was born in 1837 in Providence, Rhode Island. He apprenticed as a stone-cutter with Tingley Brothers Marble Cutters, in Providence. Batcheller began his art career sculpting marble busts, but turned to painting after 1855. A painter of still lifes, landscapes, and seascapes, he was a member of “the Group of 1855,” an organization of artists that promoted the artistic and cultural development of Providence. Batcheller was among the founders of the Providence Art Club, the nation’s second-oldest art club, along with friend and colleague painter Edward Bannister, with whom he shared a studio. Batcheller also shared a studio with James Lewin and John Arnold. Batcheller exhibited at the Art Club along with Charles Walter Stetson, Bannister, George Whitaker, Lewin, and others. During his career, unfortunately, Batcheller never achieved the level of recognition acquired by his friends. Whitaker and Arnold commented on his habit of closeting himself in his studio for hours on end, playing the violin.