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Portrait of Mrs. Christopher B. Mayer (Susan B. Mayer)

Portrait of Mrs. Christopher B. Mayer (Susan B. Mayer)

Artist: Jacob Eichholtz (American, 1776 - 1842)

Date: 1827
Medium: oil on canvas
Dimensions:
Canvas: 30 x 25 in. (76.2 x 63.5 cm)
Credit Line:Bequest, Susan Keim Montgomery
Object number: 1934.148.1
Wealthy Lancaster merchant Christopher Bartholomew Mayer (1756 – 1815) and his wife Susannah Burkhart Mayer (1761 – 1848) were enthusiastic patrons of portrait artist Jacob Eichholtz, commissioning a total of eight portraits of themselves, one set for each of their eight children. Although he began as a metalworker and prospered at this trade, Eichholtz made a deliberate decision in 1808 to become a painter, a transition from artisan to artist, and transformed himself into one of the nation’s most productive portrait painters. Largely self-taught, he was influenced by artists such as Thomas Sully and Joshua Reynolds.  He worked primarily in Lancaster and exhibited periodically in Philadelphia at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. 
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