Portrait of Sir John Eamer Lord Mayor of London 1801

Mather Brown was an American who made his career painting portraits in London, in the fluent, elegant manner of the English school of the 1780s and 1790s. His sitters are shown with soft colour, easy poses and fine fabrics, and he painted both leading Americans abroad and members of the British royal family. Born in Boston in 1761, he had lessons as a boy from Gilbert Stuart and went to London in 1781 to study with Benjamin West, entering the Royal Academy Schools in 1782. John Adams and his family sat for him in 1784 and 1785, and in 1786 he painted Thomas Jefferson. In 1788 he became history and portrait painter to the Duke of York, and he also painted the future George IV and Queen Charlotte. His fortunes later declined, and he worked in provincial English cities before returning to London, where he died in 1831. His Portrait of Sir John Eamer, Lord Mayor of London, is typical of his formal portraiture.