John Bristol

John Bunyan Bristol was born in Hillsdale, New York on April 14, 1826, the son of Abner and Lydia Bristol. The small home where Bristol was raised is still standing a short distance from the Hillsdale Fire House. Bristol was largely self taught except for a few lessons from Henry Ary of Hudson. During the season of 1859 he traveled to St. Augustine, Florida, where he gathered material for a number of semi-tropical paintings. The most important work from his Florida trip was Afternoon on the St. John's River.

Bristol was elected an Associate of the National Academy in 1859 and an Academician in 1875. John Bristol made his permanent home in New York City in 1860 and spent his summers in Great Barrington, MA or on tours of the New England States. Bristol married the daughter of Alanson Church of Great Barrington in 1862.

Bristol was represented at the Centennial Exposition in 1876 and received a Medal of Honor. He also received honorable mention at the Paris Exposition in 1889 and a bronze medal at the 1901 Pan-American Exposition. His best know paintings are: An Afternoon near Bolton, Lake George, Mansfield Mountain at Sunrise and An Afternoon in Haying Time - Berkshire County.

Some of Bristol's Columbia County landscapes are Creek Scene in Columbia County (1858), In the Field, Scene in Columbia County (1859) and Autumn in the Gorge at Bash Bish (1864).

John Bristol died in New York City on August 31, 1909.

JOHN BRISTOL