Jagson (General Andrew Jackson)

Portraits of Andrew Jackson (1767-1845) as President and as General in military uniform were second in popularity only to those depicting George Washington during the nineteenth century, especially among Pennsylvania German communities whose members espoused the cause of liberty and the defense of freedom and adopted patriotic symbols and images.  Like Washington, Jackson’s image was widely distributed through engravings. 

This interpretation in reverse painting on glass was based on a print by the well-known lithographer, Nathaniel Currier (1813-1888), first issued in 1838 which depicted Jackson on a rearing steed at the Battle of New Orleans.  That victory signaled the end of the War of 1812 and made Jackson an icon of American pride and a symbolic national hero. 

Although Pennsylvania Germans identified with the patriotism engendered by these artistic tributes, they were still in a process of acculturation during the mid-nineteenth century.  The spelling of “Jagson” indicates the retention of a Germanic dialect and that the reverse painting on glass was probably produced by an artist of Germanic descent for the American market.