Did you know?
Frederick Fink was a portrait, miniature, and figure painter who was born in New York State. Fink, born in Little Falls, NY in 1817, lived most of his life in New York City where he studied with the artist (and most known as an inventor of the Morse Code) Samuel Morse from 1835 to 1836.
Frederick Fink was known famously for his paintings of prominent figures of New York City. However, we know him for his painting titled, The Shipwrecked Mariners. This painting is a rare piece of art, as it is unlike Fink’s other work. The painting shows two brothers, who are stranded, their ship and belongings lost. The piece stops the viewer and asks them to question mortality and religion, kinship, and loss, both as a spectator and as the stranded brothers.
We know this painting, firsthand, because it hangs in our hallways. Our staff, students, guests, can gaze upon it every day. We are not just blessed to have these historic pieces hanging throughout our school, but blessed that there is a local connection. Before moving to New York City to study art, Fink studied medicine in Albany under famed physician Theodric Beck. He later went to Europe to paint famous places, before settling back “home” in Albany. He married Marietta Johnson on 27 March 1839, in Minaville, New York. Fink died on January 23, 1849, at the age of 32, leaving behind his wife and 5 children.
Also, if you want to go further down the historic path of the Fink family…. Frederick was the grandson of Major Andrew Fink, a famous Revolutionary soldier.
Another tie to the local area, Fink gained his first run of popularity at age 18, when he painted a portrait of Troy resident, William S. Parker. Parker was the publisher of the weekly newspaper, The Troy Post, first published in 1812. In 1823, Parker began publishing The Troy Sentinel. The Troy Sentinel is known for the very famous first printing of “The Night Before Christmas”.
