The portraitist Frederick Randolph Spencer was born in Lennox, a town on Oneida Lake in New York. He developed an interest in art at an early age and began formal instruction by the age of 16. In 1825, Spencer moved to New York City to study at the American Academy of Fine Arts under John Trumbull. By 1827 he returned to his family’s home in Canastota to begin a career painting portraits. 

After periods of professional activity in Albany and Utica, he retuned to New York City in 1831 and became a successful portraitist painting many of New York’s prominent citizens. He became an academician of the American Academy in 1832 and served on its board of directors from 1833 to 1835.  He became an associate member of the National Academy of Design in 1837, a full academician in 1846, and corresponding secretary of the organization from 1849-1850, when he refused reelection in order to dedicate himself to painting. In 1858 the artist retired to Oneida Lake where he spent the rest of his life. 

Spencer painted in an extremely smooth, linear style characterized by a high degree of finish; his later works appear almost photographic. A provincial portraitist who specialized in conventional and literal likenesses, Spencer also painted genre and literary subjects.