3rd Thursdays @ 3: William Sidney Mount

3rd THURSDAYS @ 3: William Sidney Mount. The artist, musician and inventor was born in Setauket in 1807. As an assistant in his brother’s sign painting shop, William was encouraged to apply his talents to greater goals. He began attending seances at the home of Thomas Hadaway, (now the Country House Restaurant in Stony Brook). Mount claimed that Rembrandt was helping him with his painting skills through these seances. He was the first American artist to paint African-Americans in a respectful manner. Primarily, he painted genre scenes and the provincial Long Island world around him. Mount liked to fish, walk, hunt, sail and visit places on Long Island. At night, he liked to go to taverns and play the flute or the fiddle. All of these interests became subjects for paintings, and he was seen around Setauket painting on location. He died in 1868 and was buried in the Presbyterian Church Cemetery on Route 25A in Setauket. Join Thomas Germano for this slide-illustrated lecture. 3 p.m.