Pierrepont Paintings Help JHC Further Explore Early American Portraiture

By Henry Inman, Founder of the National Academy of Design

Two more Pierrepont family paintings have joined our collection. We are indebted to Kathryn Pierrepont Winter, her husband the late Ralph Winter, and their children for the gift of these handsome works. A pair of portraits of Brooklyn Heights developer and merchant, Hezekiah Beers Pierrepont and his wife Anna White Constable have been added to our gallery.  Pierrepont was a key investor in Robert Fulton’s steam ferry service, accurately predicting the explosive transformation and suburbanization that would result from connecting Manhattan and Brooklyn in 1814. He was a descendant of Rev. James Pierpont, a founder of Yale University. Hezekiah reintroduced the original spelling of his family’s name which was French in origin.

Hezekiah and Anna’s portraits are by the 19^th century American artist Henry Inman. Born in 1801 to English immigrants, Inman was an apprentice to John Wesley Jarvis (whose portraits of John Jay and Peter Augustus Jay are also represented in our collection.) Inman was a founder of the National Academy of Design, serving as Vice President and later President of this institution whose mission was “to promote the fine arts in America through instruction and exhibition.” The Academy included artistic titans like Thomas Cole. Read more here.