Ruth Payne Burgess (October 11, 1865 in Montpelier, Vermont – March 11, 1934 in New York) was a naturalistic painter of portraits, still lifes, and genre work.

Personal life Ruth Payne Jewett was born in Montpelier, Vermont in 1865, the daughter of Elisha P. Jewett and Julia Kellogg Field Jewett.Albert Nelson Marquis. Who's who in New England: A Biographical Dictionary of Leading Living Men and Women of the States of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut. A.N. Marquis; 1915. p. 185. Her grandparents were Captain Nathan Jewett and Ruth Payne and her great-grandfather was Elisha Payne.Daughters of the American Revolution. Lineage Book. The Society; 1897. p. 175. She attended school in Northampton, Massachusetts, at the Mary A. Burnham School.

Ruth Payne Jewett met John William Burgess in Vermont through a mutual friend, the artist Thomas Waterman Wood.Joseph A. Citro. Green Mountains, Dark Tales. UPNE; 1 April 2001. . p. 72. Burgess founded the Columbia University's political science department.Ruth Payne Burgess. Smithsonian American Art Museum. Retrieved March 17. 2014. She married John William Burgess on September 2, 1885.John F. Ohles. Biographical Dictionary of American Educators. Greenwood Publishing Group; 1978. . p. 204. Burgess was previously married on August 24, 1869, to Augusta Thayer Jones, who died in 1884.

She was described as an artist who was "highly intelligent, well educated, and an accomplished musician." Ruth and her husband had one child, Elisha Payne Jewett Burgess,Jan Onofrio. Tennessee Biographical Dictionary. North American Book Dist LLC; 1 June 1999. . p. 142. and in 1905 had houses in New York City and Montpelier, Vermont.American Art Annual. MacMillan Company; 1905. p. 334. After John Burgess retired from Columbia, the couple lived in Newport, Rhode Island in a house named "Athenwood" and in Brookline, Massachusetts.

John William Burgess died of a heart attack in Brookline, Massachusetts on January 13, 1931. Ruth Payne Burgess died in March 1934 and her funeral was held on March 14. It was interrupted when her son, Elisha, a mining engineer, was arraigned after evading arrest for non-payment of spousal and child support for three years. Following the funeral her body was taken to a crematory in New Jersey."Funeral Halted as Woman Hales Husband to Court." Reading Eagle, March 15, 1934, p. 28. She was buried at Green Mount Cemetery in Montpelier.

Education Burgess studied at Barnard College, the National Academy of Design and the Art Students League of New York under George de Forest Brush, Kenyon Cox, and James Carroll Beckwith. She also studied in Europe and made paintings in Italy and Germany, where she painted the portrait of Prince August Wilhelm.

Career Burgess painted portraits, including Nicholas Murray Butler, the president of Columbia University; A. Barton Hepburn; and Admiral Charles E. Clark.

Her work was shown in nine exhibitions at the National Academy of Design from 1897 to 1906 as well as from 1924 to 1933. A report of the Newport Annual Exhibition in 1915 records a visitor as saying, "The picture I like best is this head by Mrs. Burgess, it's more natural and lifelike than any picture in the whole show". Her work contains orientalist themes.

In 1899 Burgess joined the National Association of Women Artists and the Woman's Art Club of New York, where she served as the organization's president from 1905 to 1910 and contributed to its financial growth. She was able to call on friends for money as well as make personal donations. Her donation of five hundred dollars contributed to the association offering a one hundred dollar prize for five years. Burgess was also president of the Art Students League for a period of time.

Additionally, Burgess was a member of groups such as the Academy of Fine Arts of Hartford, the American Water Color Society, the Society of New York Painters, and the Allied Artists of America. Burgess was a patron of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Works Green Chinese Jar, oil on canvas, 1924Green Chinese Jar. Smithsonian American Art Museum. Retrieved May 1, 2018. Floral and Chinoiserie still life, oil on canvas, 1929Floral and Chinoiserie still life. Live Auctioners. Retrieved March 17, 2014. Floral Still Life, oil on canvas, 1928Floral Still Life. Mutual Art. Retrieved March 17, 2014. Maderno, Lake of Garda, Italy, oil on canvas, 1931Maderno, Lake of Garda, Italy,. Mutual Art. Retrieved March 17, 2014. Poppy in a Vase, oil on canvasPoppy in a Vase. Red Carpet Antiques. Retrieved March 17, 2014. Portrait of a Gentleman, 1927Portrait of a Gentleman. invaluable.com. Retrieved March 17, 2014. Portrait of Dr. Daniel Bliss, Amherst College Portrait of Nicholas Murray Butler, the president of Columbia University Portrait of Jennie Churchill (Lady Randolph Churchill), 1894Anne Sebba. Jennie Churchill: Winston's American mother. John Murray; December 2007. . p. 272. Portrait of Admiral Charles E. Clark Treasury Building, Washington, D.C.American Art Directory. R.R. Bowker.; 1918. p. 442. Portrait of Honorable A. B. Hepburn, Portrait of Professor Francis March, Amherst College Portrait of Judge Pierson, Public Library, Holyoke, Massachusetts Portrait of His Royal Highness, Prince August William, Potsdam, Berlin, Germany Portrait study of a young woman, exhibited in 1915 at an annual art exhibition in Newport, Rhode Island.Art and Progress. American Federation of Arts; 1915. Newport's Annual Exhibition. p. 407. Young Woman with Violin and Hat, watercolor, 1903Young Woman with Violin. Live Auctioners. Retrieved March 17, 2014.

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References

Further reading Arlington Galleries. Recent Paintings by Ruth Payne Burgess and Alethea H. Platt. Arlington Galleries; 1923.