William Sidney Mount (1807-1868), one of America's first and best anecdotal painters, portrayed rural life on Long Island.

William Sidney Mount was born on Nov. 26, 1807, at Setauket, Long Island. He worked on the family farm at Stony Brook until 1824, when he was apprenticed to his older brother Henry, a sign and ornamental painter in New York City. About the same time, another older brother became a fellow apprentice. All three brothers soon became painters. William, who had begun drawing on his own in 1825, studied for a short time with Henry Inman, a leading portrait painter, but lack of funds, ill health, and his desire to be original made him return home in 1827. The following year he painted his first likeness, a stiff, naive painting of himself holding a flute. Next he executed his first figure painting on a religious theme, which was greatly influenced by Benjamin West.

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