Bass Otis

Born in Massachusetts, Otis worked as a coach painter before studying with Gilbert Stuart in Boston. He moved to New York and then settled in Philadelphia where his career as a portrait painter blossomed. Otis painted ordinary citizens on commission and depicted famous men for the Philadelphia publisher Joseph Delaplaine's "Repository of the Lives and Portraits of Distinguished American Characters." Though anchored in Philadelphia, Otis also worked in Boston, Massachusetts; Wilmington, Delaware; and Providence, Rhode Island.