Vanderlyn, John

Vanderlyn, John (1775-1852), American Neo-Classical painter. He studied briefly under the prominent American portraitist Gilbert Stuart before being sent to Paris by his patron, the statesman Aaron Burr. The influence of the French Neo-Classical painter Louis David is evident in Marius Among the Ruins of Carthage (1807, M. H. de Young Museum, San Francisco), which won Napoleon's commendation, and in several painstaking works of mythological subjects. Ariadne Asleep on the Island of Naxos (1814, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia) is considered one of the finest American nudes of the period. Turning to portraiture after 1820, Vanderlyn produced strong characterizations of George Washington, James Monroe, and other famous contemporaries.