1815 John Neagle (1796 –1865) Boston Artist w/ Identified Portrait - a fashionable American painter, primarily of portraits. He worked during the first half of the 19th century in Philadelphia. In 1818 Neagle decided to concentrate exclusively on portraits, setting up shop as an independent master. Faded writing on the back side of the canvas has the portrait sitter identified as Leur Taylor, Philadelphian, painted in 1815", provenance on verso of canvas, frame is probably an all-original fancy gesso frame measuring 27 1/2" W x 27 1/2" H, without frame, measures 23" W x 27" H. There is missing gesso to the lower right frame, and very thin, very light craquelure to his white shirt. The two white spots on his coat represent glare on buttons. See photo close-ups.Internet content: Biographical/Historical note:John Neagle, born in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1796, was a portrait painter who lived and worked in Philadelphia in the mid nineteenth century. While serving as an apprentice to Thomas Wilson, a "coach and ornamental painter," Neagle began to experiment with painting and consider painting as a career for himself. He studied briefly under Bass Otis and then more extensively under Thomas Sully. Both were prominent portrait painters of their times and Neagle quickly earned their praise. In 1818, Neagle ventured to Lexington, Kentucky, with the hope of setting up a business. Upon discovering that another painter, Matthew Harris Jouett, was already established there, he returned to Philadelphia. After a short stay, he traveled to Boston in 1825 to study art with Gilbert Stuart. In 1826, Neagle returned to Philadelphia and married Mary Chester Sully (1802-1845), the niece and stepdaughter of Thomas Sully. That same year, Neagle executed what became his most famous work, Pat Lyon at the Forge. From 1830 to 1831, he served as director of the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts. In 1835, he helped establish the Artists' Fund Society.Among Neagle's most well-known works are Big Kansas, or Caussetongua, and Sharitarische, Chief of the Grand Pawnees (1821), Pat Lyon at the Forge (1826-1827), Patriotism and Age (1831), William Potts Dewees (1833), and Henry Clay (1843). After the death of his wife in 1845, Neagle slowly began to reduce his output and retire from public view. He suffered a stroke in the 1850s and died in Philadelphia in 1865.