Edward Washburn
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Edward Payson Washburn (1831 – March 26, 1860) also known as Edward Payson Washbourne,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> was an American painter. He was the son of Christian missionary Cephas Washburn.<ref name=":2">Template:Cite journal</ref> He is best known for his painting, The Arkansas Traveller (1856).<ref name=":2" /> During the Antebellum era, he was one of the most notable painters in the state of Arkansas.<ref name=":0">Template:Cite book</ref>
Biography
Edward Payson Washburn painted the image of the "Arkansas Traveler" in 1856, from a story he heard from Colonel Sandford C. Faulkner.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1" /><ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Supposedly occurring on the campaign trail in Arkansas in 1840, Colonel Faulkner's humorous story ends with a fiddle playing squatter being won over by the traveler (man on horse in image).
The painting was later a basis of engravings by Leopold Grozelier of Boston in 1859, and Currier and Ives of New York City about 1870, with a sample from the Arkansas Traveler tune. In addition to the painting and prints, the story of the Arkansas Traveler was also turned into a tune, dialogue and play.
It was created south of present-day Russellville, Arkansas at the Washburn family homestead site near Norristown. Washburn cemetery, near the old homestead, still exists today. The painting was widely distributed as a Currier & Ives lithograph. It was inspired by the composition of the same name by Colonel Sanford C. Faulkner (1806–1874).<ref name=":1">Template:Cite news</ref>
Washburn died in Little Rock, Arkansas, only nine days after his father, and is buried at Mount Holly Cemetery.