John Eckstein

Johann or John Eckstein (1735–1817), was a German-born sculptor, engraver and painter who worked briefly in London before establishing himself in his homeland and then in America. He is not to be confused with his son, also known as John, a painter who worked in England and the West Indies.

Life He was born at Poppenreuth near Nuremberg on 25 November 1735, the son of Conrad Eckstein, a woodcarver and cabinet-maker, and was the elder brother of George Paul Eckstein (1739–1828) who was also a sculptor in England. He studied under Preissler, at the Nuremberg Academy of Arts before moving to England.

London He was in London from 1758 to 1765.

Something is known of Eckstein's early career in London from the fact that he signed the relief on the monument to Roger Townshend in Westminster Abbey (erected 1761), made in the workshop of Benjamin and Thomas Carter at hanover Square in London. However, he did not design the relief himself, but worked from a terracotta model by Luc-François Breton. but Eckstein was in America by November of the same year, when he and his son Frederick advertised an exhibition of paintings, sculpture, and wax models at their house at 323 Market Street, Philadelphia. Eckstein became a founder member of the Philadelphia Academy and between 1810 and 1814 also showed work at the Society of Artists, where his exhibits included an equestrian figure of Washington, apparently intended for a monument to be erected in the city.

He did not find great success in the United States. According to an obituary "he had to lament that his professional labours did not meet with that encouragement in a new country, which is so liberally bestowed upon genius in Europe; and, like many of his brother artists, he had to struggle with adversity during many of the latter years of his life." One of his last works was a marble bust of Emanuel Swedenborg commissioned by William Schlatter.

Family Eckstein was the father of another John Eckstein, a painter who exhibited at the Royal Academy in London between 1787 and 1802. In 1803 he accompanied Samuel Hood to the "Diamond Rock" near Martinique. He then went to Barbados where he painted portraits of officers stationed on the island, and seems to have died in the West Indies in about 1838.