George Beck (artist)
| Born | 1749 England |
|---|---|
| Died | December 24, 1812 |
| Nationality | American |
| Spouse | Bethany Marcus |
George Beck (1749 – December 24, 1812) was an artist and poet who flourished in America during the early republic era.[1][2]
Biography
Beck was born in England in 1749. He was employed as an instructor in mathematics at Woolwich from 1776, but was afterward dismissed. He emigrated to the United States in 1795, and was employed in painting pictures. One of his paintings, The Great Falls of the Potomac (1796) was purchased by President George Washington. Washington hung the painting in his parlor at Mount Vernon, where it remains today.
Beck also wrote short poems, made poetic translations from Anacreon, Homer, Virgil, and Horace, and in 1812 published Observations on the Comet.
In 1795, he served as a scout in General Anthony Wayne's campaign against the Native Americans.
With his wife, Bethany Marcus who was also an artist, Beck conducted a female seminary in Lexington, Kentucky for many years. He died in Lexington on December 24, 1812.
Review
The obituary of Beck published in the Kentucky Gazette eulogized his nature paintings as one of the best among the works of the contemporary artists. However, he rarely was given any credit for his works and was driven in his later days to a life of drudgery at the school he was running, frustration and bitterness.[3]
Although Beck failed to command the respect and recognition, his paintings of wild nature and western landscapes, "The Potomac River Breaking through the Blue Ridge" and "The Great Falls of the Potomac" purchased by George Washington in 1797, put his work on high esteem. Many of Beck's large paintings adorned the walls of the New Room on the eastern side of Mount Vernon.[3]
Notes
- ^ Whitley, Edna Talbott. "George Beck: An Eighteenth Century Painter". tfaoi.com. Archived from the original on 6 October 2014. Retrieved 3 March 2014.
- ^ "George Beck - McCalls Ferry on the Susquehannah". aradergalleries.com. Archived from the original on 23 September 2015. Retrieved 3 March 2014.
- ^ a b Schaeffer, Julian Sacca. "George Beck (1749-1812)". Retrieved 16 February 2016.
External links
- Wilson, J. G.; Fiske, J., eds. (1900). . Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography. New York: D. Appleton.
- "George Beck". George Washington's Mount Vernon. 2012-05-16. Retrieved 2018-01-30.
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Artists | |
| Other | |
- 1749 births
- 1812 deaths
- English emigrants to the United States
- 18th-century American painters
- 18th-century American male artists
- American male painters
- 19th-century American painters
- American male poets
- American poets
- American translators
- 18th-century English painters
- English male painters
- 19th-century English painters
- English translators
- Painters from Kentucky
- Latin–English translators
- English male poets
- English male non-fiction writers
- Translators of Homer
- Translators of Virgil