Lucretia Ann Waite

This still life painting is a remarkable document of work by an accomplished female artist of the mid-19th century. Lucretia Ann Wait was the wife of the well-known folk artist, Joseph Goodhue Chandler (1813-1880) and a fine artist in her own right; who to some extent eclipsed her husband in local recognition. Lucretia was born into a prominent Hubbardston, Massachusetts family, and was already a known talent when she met her husband from western Massachusetts. The two were married shortly thereafter in 1840.  A descendant reported that Lucretia "finished up" her husband's paintings, and the two artists probably collaborated on several portraits. 

Soon after their marriage, Chandler began his career as an itinerant painter, traveling principally in northwestern Massachusetts until he established a studio in Boston in 1852. In 1856, Lucretia was asked to exhibit at the Boston Athenaeum. The couple returned to Hubbardston in 1860, where they spent the rest of their lives. Mrs. Chandler taught drawing at the Willston Academy in Easthampton until her death in 1868. Chandler died sixteen years later in 1884, and is buried in the Greenwood Cemetery.