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(1) Ralph Earl
(b Shrewsbury, MA, 11 May 1751; d Bolton, CT, 16 Aug 1801). He was born into a prominent family of farmers and craftsmen. Both he and his brother James chose artistic careers at a young age. Ralph had established himself as a portrait painter in New Haven, CT, by 1774. He returned to Leicester, MA, in the autumn of that year to marry his cousin Sarah Gates, who gave birth to a daughter a few months later. But Earl left his wife and child with her parents and returned to New Haven, where he remained until 1777. There he saw the portraits of John Singleton Copley, which had an enduring impact on him. Works such as Earl’s notable full-length portrait of Roger Sherman (c. 1776–7; New Haven, CT, Yale U. A.G.) were painted in the manner of Copley. During this period Earl also produced four sketches of the sites of the Battle of Lexington and Concord, which were engraved in 1776 by his associate Amos Doolittle.
Part of the Earl family
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