Thomas Flintoff
English, 1809–1891
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Thomas Flintoff, an itinerant portrait painter who worked in Texas in the mid-nineteenth century, was born in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, England, in 1809 and moved to the United States around 1850. Though little is known of his early life, the fact that he had received some training is evident in his work, for his paintings show that he had at least been exposed to the elements of English romantic style. He arrived in Galveston, Texas, in the spring of 1851. There he painted several portraits, including a group portrait of William J. Jones’s children. In late 1851, Flintoff went to Austin, where he was commissioned by the legislature to restore its portrait of Stephen F. Austin. Flintoff eventually went to Melbourne, Australia, where he died in 1891.