American Art Collaborative

Head and shoulders portrait of a man with brown hair parted on the right side, close beard, wearing a black coat, white shirt and wide black neckband. Louis Gaylord Clark (1808-1873) succeeded Charles Fenno Hoffman as editor and publisher of the "The Knickerbocker" magazine, a role he held for over 25 years (1834–1861). By 1840, it had become the most influential literary publication of the time in the United States, especially through the contributions from such writers as Washington Irving, William Cullen Bryant, Nathaniel Parker Willis, and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, and by Clark's own departments, the "Editors Table" and "Gossip with Readers and Correspondents." During his career, Clark made an enemy of fellow editor and author Edgar Allan Poe. The two traded insults in their respective magazines. Charles Loring Elliott was the leading American portraitist of the mid-19th century. Mainly working in New York City he portrayed many artists and writers.