James Herring (painter)

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James Herring (born January 12, 1794 in London , † October 8, 1867 in Paris ) was an American portrait painter , engraver , gallery owner , book and art dealer . In New York City , where he worked for most of his life and was one of the founders of the American Art Union , he was also involved in Freemasonry .

Life

Born in London, James Herring came to New York in 1805, where his father, the Republican-minded teacher James Herring, emigrated from England in 1804 and lived as a brewer and distiller in the Bowery of Manhattan . Herring graduated from an academy in Flatbush , Kings County , Long Island , where he outdid his classmates in drawing and developed the idea of ​​becoming a painter. To support his father, however, he first began a job in his father's business, which failed in 1812 in connection with the economic consequences of the British-American War .

Then he began to make money coloring prints and maps, at times together with the painter John Wesley Jarvis . In 1812 he married; the couple had several children. In 1814 his father died, whose death left him destitute and unemployed. Inspired by the example of his New York neighbor, the antiquarian, Bible critic and Freemason John G. Eitchorn, he became a member of Solomon's Lodge , a Masonic lodge in Somerville , New Jersey , in 1816 . From the 1820s he was a Freemason in various lodges in New York, in which he held leading offices and in later years established contacts with lodges in Scotland, Prussia, Frankfurt am Main, Hamburg, Saxony, Switzerland, France and the Netherlands.

Portrait of the lexicographer and spelling reformer Noah Webster , 1833, National Portrait Gallery (Washington)

For a while he was self-employed with a print and card shop in Philadelphia . He soon moved to New Jersey state and began developing as a portrait painter. After a period in which he had established himself as a sought-after portraitist in the area between New Brunswick and Easton , he returned to New York and established himself as a portrait painter in Chatham Square. He also gave lessons there; William Page was one of his students. In 1821 his son Frederick William († 1899) was born, who later studied painting with his father and Henry Inman and also became a portrait painter. Portraits Herring created of Henry Lee III , James Monroe, and Noah Webster have been added to the collection of the National Portrait Gallery Washington .

In 1834 Herring published the series National Portrait Gallery of Distinguished Americans with the engraver James B. Longacre , which was completed in 1839 with the fourth volume. He also built a lending library and a book and print shop.

As secretary of the American Academy of Fine Arts , he had close contact with the city's art scene. In 1838 he opened an art gallery called the Apollo Gallery at the seat of his lending library on Broadway . In 1839 he made this gallery available to the Apollo Association , an art association that was soon to be called the American Art Union and of which he was a member of the management.

Herring died at the age of 73 on a trip to Paris. His remains were brought to New York, where they were buried in Green-Wood Cemetery on October 27, 1867 .

literature

Web links

Commons : James Herring  - Collection of Images, Videos and Audio Files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ William Dunlap : History of the Rise and Progress of the Arts of Design in the United States . Volume 2, New York 1834, pp. 296-299. ( Google Books )
  2. ↑ Herring, James . In: Albert G. Mackay: Encyclopedia of Freemasonry and its Kindred Sciences . Jazzybee Verlag Jürgen Beck, Altenmünster, ISBN 978-3-8496-8800-4 , Volume 2, p. 297 ( Google Books )
  3. ^ Charles Whitlock Moore: The Late Brother James Herring . In: The Freemasons' Monthly Magazine . Boston 1868, Volume 27, pp. 43 ff. ( Google Books )
  4. ↑ James Herring , data sheet in the portal americanartcollaborative.org , accessed on March 30, 2019
  5. ↑ James Herring, James B. Longacre : The National Portrait Gallery of Distinguished Americans . New York, Philadelphia and London 1834, Volume 1, title page
  6. ^ Winifred E. Howe: A History of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, with a Chapter on the Early Institutions of Art in New York . The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City 1913, p. 57 f. ( Google Books )
  7. ^ Malcolm Goldstein: The American Artist and His Friends . In: Malcolm Goldstein: Landscape with Figures. A History of Art Dealing in the United States . Oxford University Press, New York City 2000, ISBN 0-19-513673-X , pp. 20 ff. ( Google Books )
  8. ^ Albert G. Mackay, p. 297
personal data
SURNAME Herring, James
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American portrait painter, engraver, gallery owner, book and art dealer
DATE OF BIRTH January 12, 1794
PLACE OF BIRTH London
DATE OF DEATH October 8, 1867
Place of death Paris