First Artist in America

John Vanderlyn “...is pronounced to be the first painter that now is or ever has been in America.” ~ Aaron Burr, 1802 “The First Artist in America” is the story of John Vanderlyn, the celebrated artist who portrayed seven American presidents, rose to fame as a 19th century neoclassical history painter, and died penniless and alone in his hometown of Kingston, New York. As the protégé of Aaron Burr, John Vanderlyn was the first American artist to study in France where he began his pursuit of history painting. His self portrait was the first painting by an American artist shown in the Paris Salon. Vanderlyn’s Marius Amid the Ruins of Carthage won a gold medal from Napoleon at the Paris Salon of 1808. His 1814 classical nude Ariadne Abandoned and Asleep on the Island of Naxos caused a scandal when shown in New York, requiring separate showings for men and women. In 1818 Vanderlyn opened the first American art gallery—the Rotunda—in New York City, exhibiting 360° panoramas, his history p