The Enigma of the Itinerant Brush To look at the surviving works of Thomas Skynner is to confront a void in the historical record. We possess a significant body of work associated with his name, yet the man himself remains a shadow. He was likely an itinerant, a painter moving through the American landscape during the mid-19th century, leaving behind a trail of faces that refuse to be forgotten. Whether he was born in Canada or was a…