Brief Biography-Mather Brown was born in Boston. He was a descendant of Cotton Mather, the New England Puritan Minister famous for the Salem witchcraft trials. He was tutored by the portraitist Gilbert Stuart when he was a boy of twelve and later trained under Benjamin West in London before becoming a student at the Royal Academy. West had a lasting influence on his works.
He set up a studio in 1784 and went through a period of relative success painting portraits of nobility. Next, he became a portrait painter for the Duke of York and the Prince of Wales. Then, after a few years, he turned to religious and history painting which initiated a lengthy downturn in his fortunes. Mather Brown, unfortunately, died a poor man in London.