Miner Kilbourne Kellogg

Born in New York, Miner Kilbourne Kellogg moved to Ohio with his family as a young boy, and later received art training in Cincinnati. He is known for his portraits and landscapes, and for his work arranging art exhibitions. Kellogg went to Florence in 1841 and became friends with the sculptor Hiram Powers. He spent five months traveling in Egypt and Palestine before returning to America to manage a tour of Powers's sculpture The Greek Slave. Kellogg was one of the first American artists to study and paint the landscape of the Middle East, and was particularly interested in painting the sites of biblical events. He was very careful to make his work accurate, commenting on one trip that he and his colleague "worked like beavers" to make sure that they painted all the "details and ruins" of the landscape. (Davis, The Landscape of Belief, 1996)

Text © Smithsonian American Art Museum