biography of John Henry WITTE (1840-1901)

Birth place: Dublin, IN

Death place: NYC

Addresses: Ohio, 1877; NYC, 1878-99

Profession: Portrait and landscape painter

Studied: Cincinnati, with Joseph O. Eaton, 1858.

Exhibited: NAD, 1877-99; Brooklyn AA, 1878-83; AIC, 1888, 1894-96

Member: ANA, 1885; Artists Fund Soc.

Comments: At eighteen he went to Cincinnati to study art with Joseph O. Eaton (see entry) and from 1862 to about 1879 he had a studio in Columbus (OH), where he painted portraits of a number of early Ohio governors as well as other prominent citizens. In 1873 he spent some time in Washington (DC). In 1879 he moved to NYC. Fairman, Burnet, and Clark ( History of the NAD) give Harrison as the middle name, but he is listed as John Henry in Museum Echoes (May 1951) and as J. Henry in the Columbus directory for 1867.

Sources: G&W; WW01; Fairman, Art and Artists of the Capitol, 353; Museum Echoes (May 1951), 37 and cover; Peat, Pioneer Painters of Indiana, 99-100; Clark, Ohio Art and Artists, 114; Clark, History of the NAD, 274; Columbus CD 1867-77; NYCD 1880-99; Borough of Manhattan, Deaths Reported in 1901, 401