Brief Biography-John Neagle was born in Boston in 1796. He first studied under Pietro Ancora, the owner of the art gallery Bell & Ancora in Philadelphia. Next, Neagle did an apprenticeship with a coach painter and eventually took instruction from the portraitist Thomas Sully. Finally, after unsuccessful ventures in Kentucky and New Orleans, he settled in Philadelphia. From 1821, he exhibited at the Academy of the Fine Arts. Gilbert Stuart and Washington Allston later imbued the influence of British portraitists on his work. He married Sully’s stepdaughter in 1826 and went to New York, where he painted portraits of famous people in the acting profession. Neagle became an established portraitist of notable sitters in Philadelphia throughout his life.