John Vanderlyn

John Vanderlyn (October 18, 1775 – September 23, 1852) was an American painter.

Early life and education

Vanderlyn was born at Kingston in the Province of New York in British America, the grandson of colonial portrait painter Pieter Vanderlyn.

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.

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

Career

Landing of Columbus (1842–1847), depicting Christopher Columbus 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. In 1802, he painted two views of Niagara Falls, which were engraved and published in London in 1804. He returned to Paris in 1803, also visiting England in 1805, where he painted The Death of Jane McCrea for Joel Barlow. Going to Paris, he hired a French artist, who, it is said, did most of the work. It was engraved for the United States five-dollar banknotes.

Gallery