05/13/2026
Elbridge Ayer Burbank (American, 1858-1949)
‘Portrait of a Woman, Munich’ 1892
oil on canvas
collection of Rockford Art Museum
gift of Miss Annie Wheeler
Born in Harvard, Illinois, Elbridge Ayer Burbank’s first job was for Northwest Magazine, illustrating the Northern Pacific Railway route from Minnesota to Puget Sound, Washington. He studied at the Academy of Design in Chicago, later studied in Munich and Paris, and worked as a portraitist in England before returning to Chicago. In 1897, Burbank’s uncle Edward Everett Ayer, then-president of the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago, commissioned his nephew to go West and paint portraits of Native Americans; he painted more than 1,200 likenesses of native peoples, representing more than 10 tribes—and Geronimo was his first subject. Burbank is still believed to be the only person to have painted the legendary Apache leader from life.
‘Portrait of a Woman, Munich’ is now on view in Funderburg gallery.