Edward Washburn

For the American chemist, see Edward Wight Washburn.

Edward Payson Washburn (1831 – March 26, 1860) also known as Edward Payson Washbourne,^[1] was an American painter. He was the son of Christian missionary Cephas Washburn.^[2] He is best known for his painting, The Arkansas Traveller (1856).^[2] During the Antebellum era, he was one of the most notable painters in the state of Arkansas.^[3]

The Arkansas Traveller. Scene in the Back Woods of Arkansas, lithograph by Currier and Ives, 1870

Biography

Edward Payson Washburn painted the image of the "Arkansas Traveler" in 1856, from a story he heard from Colonel Sandford C. Faulkner.^[3][4][5] Supposedly occurring on the campaign trail in Arkansas in 1840, Colonel Faulkner's humorous story ends with a fiddle playing squatter being won over by the traveler (man on horse in image).

The Arkansas Traveller—Leopold Grozelier (lithographer), J.H. Bufford (publisher), Boston, Massachusetts, c. 1859

The painting was later a basis of engravings by Leopold Grozelier of Boston in 1859, and Currier and Ives of New York City about 1870, with a sample from the Arkansas Traveler tune. In addition to the painting and prints, the story of the Arkansas Traveler was also turned into a tune, dialogue and play.

It was created south of present-day Russellville, Arkansas at the Washburn family homestead site near Norristown. Washburn cemetery, near the old homestead, still exists today. The painting was widely distributed as a Currier & Ives lithograph. It was inspired by the composition of the same name by Colonel Sanford C. Faulkner (1806–1874).^[4]

Washburn died in Little Rock, Arkansas, only nine days after his father, and is buried at Mount Holly Cemetery.