Abraham Delanoy

Abraham Delanoy, Jr. (sometimes given as De Lanoy) (1742 – 1795) was a portrait painter active in the colony of New York. He was a pupil of Benjamin West in London.

Early life Abraham Delanoy, Jr. was born in 1742, and was most likely the son of another Abraham De Lanoy, a merchant, Abraham's great-uncle, Peter Delanoy, was the first elected mayor of New York City at the time when the English were taking the colony over from the Dutch. Delanoy was also a descendant of Abraham De Lanoy, who married Cornelia Toll Duyckinck after the early death of her husband. Her son was the limner Evert Duyckinck III, and it has been suggested that it was his relationship to this artistic family that led to the young man's choice of profession. He left that city soon after the arrival of Charles Willson Peale in February, 1767; the latter artist recorded that Delanoy had remained in town long after West believed he had returned home. and gave some lessons to William Dunlap, who later wrote sadly of his former teacher's later years, stating that he was consumptive and poor, and reduced to painting signs to make a living. He returned to New York City for three years, before moving in 1790 to Westchester County, where he died. Susan Clay Sawitzky suggested that he was the so-called Sherman Limner, two of whose works are in the National Gallery of Art, but this identification is not universally accepted.

Personal life On September 27, 1763, he married Rachel Martling, sometimes called Martling.

He died in Westchester County in 1795.