Amateur Artists
Along with professional artists who earned their living executing different kinds of painting for lodges and chapters, many amateur artists helped express ideas and concepts in Freemasonry. Some were members, like Israel Thorndike Hunt (1841-1905), who illustrated regalia and meeting room decorations to communicate details about these arrangements to his brethren. Other amateur artists had a close association with a member, like schoolgirl Martha Harding (1813-1841). She illustrated Royal Arch records with delicate watercolors, likely at the request of her father, who belonged to the organization. Both professional and amateur artists helped lodges undertake their work and celebrate accomplishments, and, in doing so, they left a rich visual record.