John Vanderlyn

{{Infobox artist

| name = John Vanderlyn

| image = JohnVanderlynPortraitOfTheArtist1800.jpg

| imagesize =

| caption = A self portrait of Vanderlyn in 1800 now housed in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City

| birth_name =

| birth_date = {{birth date |1775|10|18|}}

| birth_place = Kingston, Province of New York, British America

| death_date = {{death date and age |1852|9|23|1775|10|15|}}

| death_place = Kingston, New York, U.S.

| nationality = American

| field = Painting

| training =

| movement =

| works =

| patrons =

| influenced by =

| influenced =

| awards =

}}

John Vanderlyn (October 18, 1775{{snd}}September 23, 1852) was an American neoclassicist painter.

Early life and education

Image:John Vanderlyn 001.jpg Asleep on the Island of Naxos, now housed at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in Philadelphia]]

Vanderlyn was born at Kingston in the Province of New York in British America, the grandson of colonial portrait painter Pieter Vanderlyn.{{cite encyclopedia |title=Pieter Vanderlyn |encyclopedia=Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia |year=2012 |publisher=Columbia University Press |edition=6th |url=http://www.infoplease.com/encyclopedia/people/vanderlyn-pieter.html}}

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 of the Fine Arts. He went to Philadelphia, where he spent time in the studio of Gilbert Stuart and copied some of Stuart's portraits, including one of Aaron Burr, who placed him under Gilbert Stuart as a pupil.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}}

He was a protégé of Aaron Burr, who in 1796 sent Vanderlyn to Paris, where he studied for five years.

Career

File:John Vanderlyn - Panoramic View of the Palace and Gardens of Versailles - Google Art Project.jpg in New York City]]

File:Landing of Columbus (2) (cropped).jpg landing on San Salvador Island in the Bahamas, now on display at the U.S. Capitol Rotunda in Washington, D.C.]]

In 1801, Vanderlyn returned to the United States, where he lived in the home of Burr, then the vice president under Thomas Jefferson. He painted portraits of Burr and his daughter.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}} In 1802, he painted two views of Niagara Falls, which were engraved and published in London in 1804.Vanderlyn, John, in Appleton's Cyclopedia He returned to Paris in 1803, also visiting England in 1805, where he painted the Death of Jane McCrea for Joel Barlow. 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.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}}

Vanderlyn returned to the United States in 1815, and painted portraits of various eminent men, including James Monroe, John C. Calhoun, Governor Joseph C. Yates, Governor George Clinton, James Madison, Robert R Livingston (New York Historical Society), Andrew Jackson, and Zachary Taylor.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}} In 1834, he completed a posthumous full-length portrait of George Washington for the U.S. House of Representatives, based on Gilbert Stuart's 1796 Lansdowne portrait.

He also exhibited panoramas and built The Rotunda 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.

In 1825, Vanderlyn was one of the founders of the National Academy of Design, and taught at its school.

In 1842, through friendly influences, he was commissioned by Congress to paint The Landing of Columbus for the Rotunda of the United States Capitol.{{cite book | last1 = Birmingham Museum of Art | author-link1 = Birmingham Museum of Art | title = Birmingham Museum of Art: Guide to the Collection | publisher = Giles | year = 2010 | location = London | pages = 110 | url = http://www.birminghammuseumstore.org/gutoco.html | accessdate = July 19, 2011 | isbn = 978-1-904832-77-5 | url-status = dead | archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20110910171202/http://www.birminghammuseumstore.org/gutoco.html | archivedate = September 10, 2011 }} Going to Paris, he hired a French artist, who, it is said, did most of the work.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}} It was engraved for the United States five-dollar banknotes. This painting was later reproduced in an engraving used on the Columbian 2c Postage Issue of 1893.

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, it was thought that his work was rather devoid of charm, according to the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}} His Landing of Columbus has been called by Appleton's Cyclopedia "hardly more than respectable."

He died in poverty at Kingston, New York, on September 23, 1852.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}} He is buried in Wiltwyck Rural Cemetery in Kingston, NY.{{Cite web |title=INTERRED NOTABLES |url=https://www.wiltwyckcemetery.org/interred-notables |access-date=2022-07-28 |website=Wiltwyck Cemetery |language=en}}

Gallery

File:James Madison.jpg|^{White House collection}
James Madison (1791)

File:Vanderlyn Burr.jpg|^{New York Historical Society}
Portrait of Aaron Burr (1802)

File:Theodosiaburr.jpg|^{New York Historical Society}
Portrait of Theodosia Burr Alston (1802)

File:The Death of Jane McCrea John Vanderlyn 1804.jpeg|^{Wadsworth Athenaeum}
The Death of Jane McCrea (1804–05)

File:John Vanderlyn - Caius Marius Amid the Ruins of Carthage - Google Art Project.jpg|^{Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco}
Caius Marius Amid the Ruins of Carthage (1807)

Image:Sampson Vryling Stoddard Wilder.jpg|^{Worcester Art Museum}
Sampson Vryling Stoddard Wilder ({{Circa|1808}}–1812)

File:Portrait of George Washington 1834 by John Vanderlyn U.S. House of Reps.jpg|^{U.S. House of Representatives}
Portrait of George Washington (1834)

Image:Study for Landing of Columbus by John Vanderlyn.jpg|^{Birmingham Museum of Art}
Study for Landing of Columbus ({{Circa|1840}})

File:Columbian231 1893 Issue-2c.jpg|Columbian Issue of 1893. Postage stamp based on Vanderlyn's Landing of Columbus.