biography of Henry INMAN (1801-1846)

Birth place: Utica, NY

Death place: NYC

Addresses: NYC (1814-on)

Profession: Portrait, miniature, genre, and landscape painter

Studied: John Wesley Jarvis

Exhibited: NAD, 1826-45; PAFA, 1825-63, 1905; Brooklyn AA, 1864, 1872; Maryland Hist. Soc.

Member: NA (a founder; vice-pres., 1826-31 and 1838-44); Sketch Club; PAFA (dir., 1834)

Work: NYHS; MMA; PAFA; BMFA; Peabody Mus., Harvard Univ., Cambridge, MA; Shelburne (VT) Mus.; Boston Athenaeum; Capitol Bldg, Albany, NY; Essex Inst., Salem, MA; Independence Hall, Phila.; UPenn; Worcester MA

Comments: By the 1830s, Inman was one of the most prominent and highest-paid portrait painters in America. His career began with a seven-year apprenticeship under John Wesley Jarvis (see entry). Inman traveled with Jarvis on a trip to New Orleans during the winter of 1820-21 and again during 1821-22. In the latter year the two formed a partnership in Boston, with Jarvis producing life-sized portraits and Inman adding the costumes and backgrounds, as well as painting miniatures. Inman established his own studio in NYC in 1824, and from 1826-28 worked in partnership with his pupil Thomas S. Cummings (see entry). Inman achieved considerable fame in NYC, receiving portrait commissions from prominent families like the Drakes and the De Kays. In 1831, he moved to Philadelphia where for several years he was a partner in the lithographic firm of Childs & Inman (see entry). Returning to NYC in 1834, he continued to enjoy great success as a portrait painter until his health began to fail in the early 1840s. He undertook his last major commission in 1844, traveling to England to paint portraits of Wordsworth and Macaulay. He died in 1845, just a few months after his return from England. An exhibition of his works was held in NYC in February of that same year to raise funds for the support of his family. Although primarily known as a portrait painter, Inman also executed a number idyllic landscapes and made several popular genre paintings that were engraved in gift books. He also was awarded one of the mural commissions for the Rotunda at the U.S. Capitol building, but it appears that he did not get further than preparatory sketches before his death.

Sources: G&W; Bolton, Henry Inman" and "A Catalogue of the Paintings of Henry Inman," in The Art Quarterly (1940), 353-375, 401-418; DAB; Cowdrey, AA & AAU; Cowdrey, NAD; Rutledge, PA; Rutledge, MHS; Dickson, John Wesley Jarvis; Karolik Cat.; Richmond Portraits, 144; Cummings, Historic Annals; Clark, History of the NAD. More recently, see Baigell, Dictionary; Encyclopaedia of New Orleans Artists, 197; Muller, Paintings and Drawings at the Shelburne Museum, 83 (w/repro.); 300 Years of American Art, vol. 1, 125; Falk, Exh. Record Series.