John Wesley Jarvis

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John Wesley Jarvis , self-portrait, c. 1812, Walters Art Museum

John Wesley Jarvis (* 1780 in South Shields , England , † January 14, 1840 in New York City ) was an American portrait painter .

Life

Jarvis was the son of the American seaman John Jarvis, who had brought his British wife Ann Lambert, his son and daughter to New York City in 1786 and probably settled in Philadelphia in the early 1790s . The family was Methodist ; Maternal great-grand-uncles were the revival preachers Charles and John Wesley , both founders of the Methodist movement.

Betsy Burtis (1784–1813) , portrait of his wife

Jarvis lived in the house of his great-great-uncle, the preacher John Wesley, in London until 1786 . He enjoyed an artistic training early on. As an adolescent he often visited the studio of the painter Matthew Pratt (1734–1805) in Philadelphia, where numerous artists frequented. There he made the acquaintance of the Danish-American painter Christian Gullager (1759-1826). A more formal education was given to him from 1796 by an apprenticeship with Edward Savage , also by the English-American engraver David Edwin (1776-1841), who had been an employee of Savage. In 1801 Jarvis moved to New York City with Savage.

Within a year he started his own business there as a copperplate engraver . In 1803 he went into a studio community with the painter Joseph Wood (1778-1832). In this partnership they produced copperplate engravings, miniatures and larger portraits. He acquired miniature painting techniques from Edward Malbone . In addition to miniature and portrait painting, which brought him more and more to large-format oil painting , he ran a private drawing school for three years. Occasionally he also cut silhouettes . In 1809 he married Betsy Burtis. The marriage, which came to an early end with the death of his wife in 1813, had two children, including the later portrait painter Charles Wesley Jarvis (1812–1868). The studio community with Wood lasted until 1810. From 1811 to 1813 he lived and worked in Baltimore , where he had already stayed for a while in 1806.

Commodore John Rodgers (1772–1838) , around 1814, National Gallery of Art

In Baltimore and New York City he soon gained a certain popularity through his painting and socializing, to which his eccentric demeanor in clothing, manners and witticisms contributed. As an increasingly sought-after portrait painter, he stayed for longer periods in Charleston , Mobile and New Orleans . In New Orleans he was portrayed by US General Andrew Jackson , who was to become the seventh President of the United States in 1829. At times he was assisted by Thomas Sully and Henry Inman .

Jarvis reached the peak of his artistic recognition when he painted six portraits of American men from the time of the British-American War in 1814 for the Common Council of the City of New York . For about a decade during this time he was a leading portrait painter in the United States and enjoyed excellent relations with the social and cultural elite, particularly in New York City.

John Wesley Jarvis , 1822, watercolor drawing by Henry Inman , Smithsonian American Art Museum

A series of setbacks began in the early 1820s: in 1823 he lost a lawsuit against his apprentice, the painter John Quidor (1801–1881), who had accused him of breach of contract. In 1824, he was deprived of custody of his children in legal proceedings with his second wife. A decline in portrait demand sent him looking for work in South Carolina, Kentucky, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Washington, Virginia, Ohio, and Georgia in the 1820s and 1830s. Increasingly he drank alcohol. In 1834 he suffered a stroke in New Orleans, which partially paralyzed and mentally impaired him. He spent the last years of his life in New York City under the care of his sister.

literature

  • Jarvis, John Wesley . In: Matthew Baigell: Dictionary of American Art . Harper & Row, New York 1979, ISBN 0-06-433254-3 , p. 184.
  • Jarvis, John Wesley . In: George C. Groce, David H. Wallace: The New-York Historical Society's Dictionary of Artists in America, 1564-1860 . Yale University Press, New Haven 1957, p. 346.
  • Harold E. Dickson: John Wesley Jarvis, American Painter, 1780-1840 . New-York Historical Society, New York, 1949.
  • Theodore Bolton, George C. Groce: John Wesley Jarvis. An Account of His Life and the First Catalog of His Work . In: The Art Quarterly , 1 (Fall 1938), pp. 299–321.

Web links

Commons : John Wesley Jarvis  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ John Wesley Jarvis . In: Carrie Rebora Barratt, Lori Zabar: American Portrait Miniatures in The Metropolitan Museum of Art . Yale University Press, New Haven 2010, ISBN 978-0-300-14895-4 , p. 104 ( Google Books )
  2. ↑ John Wesley Jarvis . In: David B. Dearinger (Ed.): Paintings and Sculpture in the National Academy of Design . Volume 1: 1826-1925 . Hudson Hills Press, New York 2004, ISBN 1-55595-029-9 , p. 316 ( Google Books )
personal data
SURNAME Jarvis, John Wesley
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American portrait painter
DATE OF BIRTH 1780
PLACE OF BIRTH South Shields , England
DATE OF DEATH January 14, 1840
Place of death New York City