William Preston Phelps

William Preston Phelps (1848–1923), known as "the Painter of the Monadnock", was an American landscape painter.

Early years He was born on the family farm near Chesham, then the Pottersville section of Dublin, New Hampshire, on March 6, 1848 to mother Mary Phelps and father Jayson Phelps. "Preston", as he was known, grew up helping out on the very active family farm, where his father in his spare time, liked to paint, build furniture and musical instruments. Preston drew constantly, when he wasn't tending the animals or mowing the fields. His father recognized the financial benefits of talents, as he too painted houses as extra income, and sent William on to the thriving mill city of Lowell, Massachusetts to work for the sign painter Jeduthan Kittredge at the age of 14. A son, Edward, was born three years later. Phelps' talents began to shift away from signage, as people were so impressed by the intricacies and beauty of his work, patrons started to hire him for canvas paintings. Next he headed for Paris where he stayed for two more years.

With the death of his father in 1888, William and Anna moved the family to the old family farm at the foot of Mount Monadnock in New Hampshire, just after Anna finished out high school in the summer of 1890.

Later years

After spending a majority of his 30s traveling and painting around Europe and the U.S., Phelps finally settled down in 1890 when he re-acquired his old family farm near Chesham, New Hampshire.

Notable works "Haying" "Tillers of the soil" "Reflections" "Wooded landscape with waterfall" "Grand Canyon", 1886 "Afternoon Walk" ca.1890 "Mount Monadnock from Stone Pond" (ca.1900) displayed at the Currier Museum of Art. "Cows Crossing the Brook" "Landscape with Sheep" "Logging in the Deep Woods" "Cattle at the Water Trough, Winter" "Late Afternoon, A Winter Day" "Autumn River Scene" "Mischief In The Barn" "Rabbit Hunters"