John Sartain

John Sartain (24 October, 1808 in London, England - 25 October 1897 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) was an artist who pioneered mezzotint engraving in the United States.

Biography

John Sartain was born in London, England on 24 October, 1808. At the age of twenty-two he emigrated to America and settled in Philadelphia. Early in his career he painted portraits in oil and made miniatures. He engraved plates in 1841-1848 for "Graham's Magazine", published by George Rex Graham (1813-1894), and believed his work was responsible for the publication's sudden success. [Quinn, Arthur Hobson. "Edgar Allan Poe: A Critical Biography". Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1998. ISBN 0801857309. p. 330] Sartain became editor and proprietor of "Campbell's Foreign Semi-Monthly Magazine" in 1843 and from 1849-1852 published with Graham "Sartain's Union Magazine".

Sartain was a colleague and friend of Edgar Allan Poe. Around July 2, 1849, about four months before Poe's death, the author unexpectedly visited Sartain's house in Philadelphia. Looking "pale and haggard" with "a wild and frightened expression in his eyes", Poe told Sartain that he was being pursued and needed protection; Sartain worried he was suicidal.Silverman, Kenneth. "Edgar A. Poe: Mournful and Never-ending Remembrance". New York: Harper Perennial, 1991. ISBN 0060923318. p. 416] Poe asked for a razor so that he could shave off his moustache to become less recognizable. Sartain offered to cut it off himself using scissors. [Meyers, Jeffrey. "Edgar Allan Poe: His Life and Legacy". New York: Cooper Square Press, 1992. ISBN 0815410387. p. 246] Poe had said he had overheard people while on the train who were conspiring to murder him. Sartain asked why anyone would want to kill him, Poe answered it was "a woman trouble." Poe gave Sartain a new poem, "The Bells", which was published in "Sartain's Union Magazine" in November 1849, a month after Poe's death. [Sova, Dawn B. "Edgar Allan Poe: A to Z". New York: Checkmark Books, 2001. ISBN 081604161X. p. 25] "Sartain's" also included the first authorized printing of "Annabel Lee", also posthumous. [Meyers, Jeffrey. "Edgar Allan Poe: His Life and Legacy". New York: Cooper Square Press, 1992. ISBN 0815410387. p. 244]

Sartain had charge of the art department of the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia, in 1876; took a prominent part in the work of the committee on the Washington Memorial, by Rudolf Siemering, in Fairmount Park, Philadelphia; designed medallions for the monument to George Washington and Lafayette erected in 1869 in Monument Cemetery, Philadelphia; and was a member of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts and a cavaliere of the Royal Equestrian Order of the Crown of Italy.

His "Reminiscences of a Very Old Man" (New York, 1899) are of unusual interest. Of his children William Sartain (1843-1924), landscape and figure painter, was born at Philadelphia on the 21st of November 1843, studied under his father and under Leon Bonnat, Paris, was one of the founders of the Society of American Artists, and became an associate of the National Academy of Design. Another son, Samuel Sartain (1830-1906), and a daughter, Emily Sartain (1841-1927), who in 1886 became principal of the Philadelphia School of Design for Women, were also American artists.

References

*1911

External links

* [http://findingaid.winterthur.org/html/HTML_Finding_Aids/COL0398.htm The Winterthur Library] Overview of an archival collection on John Sartain.
* [http://books.google.com/books?q=Sartain's+Union+Magazine&hl=en&safe=off&client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&hs=MUN&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wp| "Sartain's Union Magazine"] at Google Book Search