REMARKABLE MASONS: Artists

by Hilary Anderson Stelling, Director of Collections and Exhibitions Scottish Rite Masonic Museum & Library

Amos Doolittle and Ezra James are just two of the many noted artists who were also members of the Craft.

Eventhough he worked over two hundred years ago, engraver and entrepreneur Amos Doolittle (17541832) created images of Masonic symbols that endure to this day.

A member of Hiram Lodge No. 1 in New Haven, Doolittle engraved certificates and aprons for the Grand Lodge of Connecticut soon after he received his degrees in 1792. He later worked with Masonic lecturer Jeremy Ladd Cross, engraving and printing several aprons that Cross designed. Doolittle’s daughter Sarah helped get the aprons ready for sale by sewing them together.

In 1818 Cross noted in his diary that he had “spent the day drafting Emblems with Br. Doolittle for the Masonic Chart which I intend publishing.” With this work, The True Masonic Chart, Cross sought to create a textbook for Freemasons distinguished by copious illustrations presented in an order that followed the lectures and would, Cross reasoned, help Masons better remember their meaning. Doolittle contributed 37 engraved plates of illustrations to the first edition, released—and sold out—in 1819. Doolittle also engraved a Masters Carpet that Cross used as a frontispiece to enhance the 1820 edition. Cross and other publishers have offered multiple editions of The True Masonic Chart over the years. Although the book’s illustrations have been updated many times, the artists undertaking this work have consistently looked to Cross and Doolittle’s original designs as models for their illustrations. Doolittle’s visual expression of Masonic emblems and ideas has helped educate Masons since the early 1800s.

From1793 through 1836, artist Ezra Ames (1768-1836) painted everybody who was anybody in Albany, New York. Scholars credit him with creating over 700 paintings, mostly portraits, along with a handful of landscapes and still lifes. Outside of his work as an artist, Ames helped guide the course of Royal Arch Freemasonry in New York. Ames served as Grand High Priest of the Grand Chapter of New York from 1802 through 1825. During his tenure, the group grew tremendously, issuing charters to well over 100 Mark Lodges and Royal Arch Chapters.

Born in Massachusetts, Ames moved to Albany in 1793. In a newspaper advertisement from that year, he informed potential clients about his services, offering “Portrait and Sign Painting” and calling attention to his skills in creating “Portraits, Miniatures, and Hair Devices” and painting “Signs, Coaches, Chaises, Sleighs, Standards, & c.” He also accepted commissions for engraving. Soon after he moved to Albany, Ames joined Union Lodge No. 1. He was a founding member of Master’s Lodge No. 2 in 1796. In his years as a Mason, Ames undertook many commissions from members of the Fraternity, painting aprons and “Masonic Carpets.” He also engraved certificates for Masonic groups and sold “Gilt Masonic Meddels” to Freemasons in the area. Ames’ many portraits of New Yorkers have left us with a picture of the people who shaped the Empire State in the early years of the United States.