The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. 2001-07.
Ames, Ezra
17681836, American painter, b. Framingham, Mass. Early in his life he worked as a carriage painter, miniaturist, engraver, and decorator, first in Worcester, Mass., and later in Albany, N.Y., where he settled. His portrait of Governor Clinton of New York (1818; Albany Inst. of History and Art) established his renown as a vigorously realistic portraitist. Among his many skillful likenesses are those of Gouverneur Morris (N.Y. Historical Society) and Stephen van Rensselaer (New York State Historical Association).