Thomas Wightman

Thomas Wightman (1811–1888) was an American painter of the nineteenth century, noted especially for his portraits and still life paintings.

Wightman was a native of Charleston, South Carolina. His parents were William and English-born Matilda Sandys Williams Wightman, described by the Southern Christian Advocate in 1882 as "in quite moderate circumstances," but "people of unusual intellect and intelligence, and of decidedly marked character"; his paternal grandfather, known as "Major Wightman" due to service in the American Revolutionary War, was a British native who operated a jewelry shop in the city. He was encouraged in his creative ambitions by his father, as was his brother John; another brother, William, would go on to become Methodist Bishop of South Carolina and president of Wofford College. His father was an amateur painter,Edward Greene Malbone painted miniature portraits of his parents, and the two men may have had some contact at that point. Otherwise, Wightman studied with Henry Inman in New York City; the date is not known, but might be around 1832, because he began contributing to the annual exhibitions of the National Academy of Design in that year. The catalog showed his address as 75 White Street, in a well-established neighborhood, indicating that he was already seeing some success as a painter. Somewhere between 1836 and 1841 he returned to Charleston for a visit, but he is known to have been back in New York by the summer of the latter year, for further study. He modeled his style of portraiture on that of Inman, and developed for himself a good clientele in both Charleston and New York. During the 1840s he traveled often between the two cities, but he was based in New York from 1837 to 1861; besides Charleston, he also frequently visited Augusta, Georgia, where his brother John operated a photographic studio and where his parents and sisters lived as well. He married a New Yorker, Isabella Jeanette Morris, in Augusta on February 19, 1837.

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