American Art Collaborative

John Wesley Jarvis (1781-1839), like Henry Inman, enjoyed the reputation of being one of the foremost American portrait painters of his age. He painted many military and naval figures from the War of 1812 for New York City Hall, and his series of eminent American statesmen is in the New-York Historical Society. Despite his successful beginnings, Jarvis died in poverty, a victim of his own reckless personal and financial behavior