American artist and writer, born in Perth Amboy, NJ, on the 19th of February 1766. He studied painting both in New York and London, but first attracted attention by his dramas, The Father (1789) and André (1798). He engaged in the theatrical business in New York, but made a failure of it. He then turned his attention to painting and produced some successful works. Among his paintings are Calvary (1828) and Christ Rejected (1821); and among his writings, History of the American Theater (1832) and Arts of Design in the United States (1834). He died in New York City on the 28th of September 1839.
