John Antrobus
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| Born: | c1837, Warwickshire, England |
| Died: | October 18, 1907, Dearborn, Michigan |
Notes:
• "Born in England, John Antrobus was an itinerant portrait, landscape, and genre painter and also a poet and journalist. He was the first artist to paint a portrait of Ulysses S. Grant and designed the Grant medal authorized by Congress in 1863." - Ask Art
• Immigrated to the US in 1850 and first settled in Philadelphia. He moved to Savannah, Georgia three years later and then on to Alabama (Montgomery & Huntsville.
• Art Styles: Realism, Representation, Realist
• Art Student in Paris before 1900
• "Artist who painted in Alabama before the Civil War. Before the Civil War he worked in Montgomery (1855) and in Huntsville. After the Civil War he moved to Chicago; then from 1875 until his death he was a resident of Detroit, where he became a leading painter." - Alabama Past Leaders
• Painting: plantation burial. A writer in a Southern newspaper in 1860 remarked that this painting is "illustrative of a negro funeral, and those conversant with such scenes will at once see how faithfully the artist has performed his task" - Honour
• "By 1859 he had opened a studio in New Orleans. While in Louisiana, he had ambitious plans to create a twelve painting series depicting southern culture and life. Perhaps the advent of the Civil War curtailed his plans, because Antrobus only completed two of the planned paintings." - Internet Antique Gazette
• He briefly served in the Confederate Army (Lieutenant in the Delhi Southrons).
• A Biography, "John Antrobus: Artist, poet" was written by Lyn Allison Yeager in 1982. It is out of print and difficult to find.
Related Links:
• Alabama Past Leaders - By Henry S. and Marsha Kass Marks, © 1982, p. 17
• Art Net - Photos of his paintings
• Ask Art - Photo of a painting and part of a Bio (Originally found at http://www.askart.com/askart/a/john_antrobus/john_antrobus.aspx Ask Art.)
• Bridgeman: Art, Culture, History - Photo of the Itinerant Artist Itinerant Artist "Plantation Burial", 1860 (Originally found at http://www.bridgemanart.com/image/Antrobus-John-1837-1907/Plantation-Burial-1860-oil-on-canvas/83e0635e2df54ca889b088b500200ce5.)
• Honour - Honour, The Image of the Black, vol. 4, pt. 1, p. 215 (Originally found at http://hitchcock.itc.virginia.edu/Slavery/details.php?categorynum=14&categoryName=&theRecord=28&recordCount=38.)
• Internet Antique Gazette - Bio by Neal Auction Company.