Jacob Bailey Moore (1815-1893)
Jacob Bailey Moore was born in Candia, New Hampshire in 1815 and died in that state in 1893. For a brief time he worked in Boston before returning to New Hampshire. During his career he spent brief stints as a journalist and as a phrenologist as well as an itinerant artist.
Jacob Bailey Moore is closely identified as a member of the “Prior-Hamblen” group of early 19th portrait artists. This group’s work closely follows that of William Matthew Prior (1806 to 1873) and Sturtevant J. Hamblen (1837 to 1856). Their portraits have been characterized as “very flat, posterlike” and were painted in oils or gouache on a variety of backings, including cardboard, academy board or canvas. Numerous works signed by Prior have been identified, as have a few signed by Hamblen. Signed works by other members of the “Prior-Hamblen” group are quite rare. Those known to have been painted by Jacob Bailey Moore are feature a flat style almost identical to that of Prior.