John Vanderlyn

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Image:JohnVanderlynPortraitOfTheArtist1800.jpg

John Vanderlyn (October 18, 1776 - September 23, 1852) was a U.S. neoclassicist painter, was born at Kingston, New York.

He was employed by a print-seller in New York, and was first instructed in art by Archibald Robinson (1765-1835), a Scotsman who was afterwards one of the directors of the American Academy. He went to Philadelphia, where he spent time in the studio of Gilbert Stuart<ref name=appletons>[1]"John Vanderlyn" article in Appleton's Encyclopedia, online version, accessed October 19, 2006</ref> and copied some of Stuart's portraits, including one of Aaron Burr, who placed him under Gilbert Stuart as a pupil.<ref name=brit>Text incorporated from either Encyclopaedia Britannica, 1911 edition or The New International Encyclopedia, an edition in the public domain</ref>

He was a protegé of Aaron Burr who in 1796 sent Vanderlyn to Paris, where he studied for five years. He returned to the United States in 1801 and lived in the home of Bur, then the Vice President, where he painted the well-known likeness of Burr and his daughter.<ref name=brit/> In 1802 he painted two views of Niagra Falls, which were engraved and published in London in 1804.<ref name=appletons/> He returned to Paris in 1803, also visiting England in 1805, where he painted the Death of Bliss McCrea for Joel Barlow.<ref name=appletons/> Vanderlyn then went to Rome, where he painted his picture of Marius amid the Ruins of Carthage, which was shown in Paris, and obtained the Napoleon gold medal there. This success caused him to remain in Paris for seven years, during which time he prospered greatly. In 1812 he showed a nude Ariadne (engraved by Durand, and now in the Pennsylvania Academy), which increased his fame. When Aaron Burr fled to Paris, Vanderlyn was for a time his only support.<ref name=brit/>

Vanderlyn returned to the United States in 1815, and painted portraits of various eminent men, including Washington (for the U.S. House of Representatives), James Monroe, John C. Calhoun, Governor Joseph C. Yates, Governor George Clinton, Andrew Jackson, and Zachary Taylor.<ref name=brit/> <ref name=appletons/> He also exhibited panoramas and had a "Rotunda" built in New York City which displayed panoramas of Paris, Athens, Mexico, Versailles (by himself), and some battle-pieces; but neither his portraits nor the panoramas brought him financial success, partly because he worked very slowly.<ref name=appletons/>

In 1842, through friendly influences, he was commissioned by Congress to paint The Landing of Columbus. Going to Paris, he hired a French artist, who, it is said, did most of the work.<ref name=brit/> It was engraved for the United States five-dollar banknotes.<ref name=appletons/> He died in poverty at Kingston, New York, on 23 September 1852.<ref name=brit/>

Vanderlyn was the first American to study in France instead of in England, and to acquire accurate draughtsmanship. He was more academic than his fellows; but, though faithfully and capably executed, his work was rather devoid of charm, according to the 1911 Encyclopaedia Britannica.<ref name=brit/> His Landing of Columbus has been called (by Appleton's Cyclopedia) "hardly more than respectable."<ref name=appletons/>

His other works include portraits of Monroe, and Robert R Livingston (New York Historical Society).