Alexander Anderson

Alexander Anderson (1775–1870) was born in New York and educated at Columbia University, where he received a degree in medicine in 1796. He was active for many years as a doctor before giving up the practice of medicine in 1798 after losing many friends and family members to a yellow fever epidemic. He then became active as the first important wood engraver in the United States, producing thousands of woodblocks in the course of the next sixty years. He engraved book illustrations, stamps, paper currency, soap wrappers, labels for nostrum bottles, newspaper mastheads, wrappers for playing cards, and other pictorial designs. In addition, he and Jarvis collaborated on book illustrations and political caricatures, as well as on a death mask of the political revolutionary Tom Paine (New-York Historical Society). A certificate accompanying the portrait when given to the Museum noted that Jarvis painted the picture in 1815 and that it had remained in the possession of the family of the sitter until purchased by Robert Hoe. The painting's current state is due to four attempts to remove overpaint applied in the 1890s. The sitter's lively and direct gaze, a characteristic of Jarvis's best work, has been preserved.