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Since this is a family record it may not be deemed inappropriate to conclude with a notice of the member who complied it as easy of accomplishment now, by simply collecting a few of the numerous published matters that have appeared from time to time, and which must speedily disappear in the natural order of things.

The larger part of the following is from the weekly periodical entitled “Progress”, published by John W. Forney.

“The branch of engraving on steel know as mezzotinto was first introduced and practiced as a regular profession in America in the year 1830, by John Sartain of Philadelphia.  Occasionally, however, works in this style had been published before that time, but only in an experimental sort of way, by amateurs, without being followed up in any instance.

“This artist was born in London, Oct 24, 1808 and was educated to be an engraver in what is called the line manner, in which style he produced eighteen of the plates in Ottley’s folio work entitled ’The Early Florentine School, published in 1826, presenting examples of the best masters of that school successively, from Cimabue, in 1260, and Giotto, his pupil, down to Luca Signorelli in 1500.

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Beside these, he finished the plates begun in Italy for the same work in 1792 by Tomaso Piroli.

In 1828 Mr Sartain commenced the practice of mezzotinto, and thereafter seldom resumed in its purity the art he had first learned, but mingled both styles, with the addition of stippling, in all his plates.

“When but ten years old he left school, in which he had learned little, and at twelve began a career of active industry, first as a pyrotechnist with Signor Mortram, an Italian, who was also assistant painter to Felbin Grieve, at Charles Kemble’s Theatre Royal, Covent Garden, London. In many of the stage performances the aid of fireworks was necessary to the effects, and young Sartain was frequently trusted to carry out, his part, without being overlooked, such was his steadiness of character at that early age. There, in the large painting room of that grand theatre, his picture-loving tastes were gratified by viewing the progress of the art creations of the master genius of the place.  Much of the glistening surfaces of the “Castle of Polished Steel” (produced in 1821) was from the tinsel and Dutch metal that he

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stuck on to the artists touches of glue.  This Italian whom he served was also pyrotechnist to the then fashionable Vauxhall Gardens, and on the occasion of the coronation of George lV. A large portion of the display of fireworks in Hyde Park was his. In all these performances the boy was relied on for timely attention to duties the same as a man, except where man’s strength was needed.  “On arriving at the age of fourteen he was apprenticed to learn the art of engraving, and such was his progress in a single year, that William Y Ottley, the eminent art critic and learned antiquary, confided to him the execution of the plates for his work in folio of, The Early Florentine School, The three engravings after Benozzo Gozzoli, in that work. At this time his eagerness in the persuit (sic) of knowledge made ample amends for the deficiency of his early education.

“Besides engraving, he has engaged professionally in painting in oils, in water-colours and in miniature on ivory.  In water-colours he had the instruction of the eminent artist, John Varley;  in oils, Joshua Shaw;  in miniature and figure painting in water-colours, Henry Richter;

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and figure painting in oils, Manual Defranca.

For some time he made vignette designs for the embellishments on bank notes, for Draper, Underwood and Co., and also made designs on wood for that branch of engraving.  “In 1843 he became sole proprietor and editor of Campbell’s Foreign Semi-Monthly magazine, in which he was the first in America to print “The Song of the shirt’, ‘The bridge of Sighs’, ‘The Drop of Gin’, and other pieces of a kindred nature, which afterwards became so widely popular. Agassi??? Article entitled ‘A Period in the History of Our Planet’, he printed as early as October, 1843, when the name of that eminent scientist was hardly known, if at all, on this side of the Atlantic.

During the same year he had an interest in the Eclectic Museum, along with E. Littell and the Rev. John H. Agnew, which work was afterwards continued by Mr Agnew alone, as the Eclectic, and Mr Sartain simply engraved the plates and embellished the monthly numbers.  In the fall of 1848 he purchased a one-half interest in the Union magazine (also a New York publication), and it became known throughout the country as Sartain’s Magazine; during the latter part of its career Sartain was also its editor.  It was finally merged into another monthly of the sister city.

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Besides the literary labors inseparable from these engagements, he was frequently called on to exercise his pen on various subjects, more particularly those having relation to art.

“His industry has been untiring, and his capacity for continued labor a surprise to those who possessed opportunities of knowing his habits.

Many years ago he had, no doubt, already executed with his own unassisted hand more plates than anyone in the profession ever did in a long lifetime.  Many still remember the time when the Annuals were in fashion, that there was hardly a volume of the kind published on this side of the Atlantic that had not all its plates from his prolific burin (sic).  Grahams Magazine, during the first and best years of its existence had a plate every month by him; so too, the Eclectic and his own Semi-Monthly,  one every two weeks; all in addition to his other engraving and literary work. His rapidity under pressure may be judged from the manner in which the portrait plate of Espartero was produced, in a sudden emergency, for the November number of the Semi=Monthly, 1843.  Beginning on the uniform black

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mezzotint ground at past midnight, the plate was finished and lettered by daybreak when the printers came to work.  Again, the portrait of Sir Robert Peel in the October number of the Eclectic, 1850, was begun at a little before 2 PM from the same state as the preceding, and at five the same afternoon a finished proof was mailed to New York.

All the plates referred to so far, were for books; we will now turn to more important works. 

“His large framing prints, too, are quite numerous, several of them as much as three feet in length; but to attempt only a mere catalogue would occupy too much space. Prominent among them are: ‘Christ rejected’, after West; “The Iron-worker and King Solomon’; after Schussele’; ‘Homestead of Henry Clay’; after Hamilton; ‘John Knox and Mary Queen of Scots’; after Seutze; (could be Leutze); ‘Men of Progress, American Inventors’, after Schussle; ‘The Country Election in Missouri’; after Gosgoshunk’; ‘ The battle of Gettysburg’; after Rothermel (this last a work of enormous labor), and many others.

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Much of his time and attention has been given to numerous associations in which he held membership.  As a controller of the Artists Fund Society from 1835 on, he was always an active member of the exhibition and other committees, and filled successively all the offices in its gift from President down.  For twenty-three years as Director of the Pennsylvania Academy of the fine Arts he was its most active laborer, first under the presidency of Henry D Gilpin, then under that of Caleb Cope, and lastly under that of James L Claghorn.  During his travels in Europe, undertaken for his own pleasure and study, he saw personally the honorary members of the Institution, and delivered to them their diplomas; this in Spain, Italy, Germany, France, Belgium, Holland, England and Scotland, and availed himself of the opportunity thus afforded of making better known and appreciated the oldest academy of the fine arts in the United States.

In many other prominent institutions of Philadelphia he has been a manager or director, and is now Vice-President of the School of Design for Women, having twice positively declined the presidency of it, which was tendered to him. Many years ago he was elected an honorary member of an art society in Amsterdam entitled the ‘Arti et Amicitar’. In addition to many medals

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received from different quarters, the King of Italy conferred on him the title of ‘Calvaliere’, with a decoration, and the appointment of ‘Officer of the Equestrian Order of the Crown of Italy’.

“Without entering particularly into his multitudinous occupations, it ought not to be omitted that, his architectural knowledge and taste have been frequently called in aid of important projects.  Among them, the plans for the arrangement of the galleries and rooms of both floors of the Pennsylvania Academy of fine Arts are from his drawnings, prepared at the request of the Building Committee of the Directors.  He designed the lofty granite monument to Washington and Lafayette at Monument Cemetery, Philadelphia, and superintended its construction; modelled the two colossal medallion heads from which the bronze likenesses were cast, and is the author of the two admired inscriptions cast in bronze and placed on opposite sides of the pedestal.  Other monuments of importance in the same cemetery are from his designs, as is the also the steeple on the building at the entrance to the grounds on Broad  Street.

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“After the organisation had been completed for holding the great International Exhibition in commemoration of the Hundredth anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, Mr Sartain was selected to fill the important and responsible position of Chief of the Bureau of Art.  The manner in which the arduous duties were discharged was deemed worthy of the highest praise, while the economy in its management made it infinitely less costly than any other department of the Exhibition.  The title and decoration from the Italian sovereign was marked evidence of appreciation in that quarter.

“While in the midst of a crushing weight of numerous engagements, Mr Sartain projected The American Gallery of Art, and produced the first quarto of what was intended to be a continuous series of annual volumes.  But the pecuniary loss on the first issue was so serious as to prevent its further prosecution.  The plan was comprehensive:  each volume was to contain engravings from characteristic examples of American painters of eminence, each subject selected by the artist himself, and in no case was there to appear a

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second picture by any other artist.  From numerous commendatory reviews of the published volume, we quote one from the pen of an eminent author, Dr William Elder.

“The work before us, the first volume it ought to be called, is in quarto, very elegantly bound, 100 pages of letter press, and eleven engravings, all executed with the editors own unsurpassed skill.  Mr Sartain, to the genius and industry of eminent art, adds its richest enthusiasm and most generous spirit; and the heart of the man liberalises the work of the artist. In his personal character the public has the best assurance of the worthiest work which his high and broad range of talent qualifies him to achieve.

“Surprise has often been expressed that such incessant labor could be persevered in through so long a series of years without a breaking down of health.  But on the contrary, his energy remains undiminished, he is still diligent in business, fervent in spirit, and pursues his profession unimpaired, notwithstanding the extant (sic) to which it has been taxed, added to advanced age.

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But the fact is, the family is of the old Huguenot stock, which history shows is of the toughest fibre, remarkable for its endurance and determination.

The Sartain’s fled from France along with the earliest emigrants, caused by the persecutions practiiced against those who had dared to read the printed Bible.  They settled at Trowbridge, in the West of England, about half a century before Henry lV, promulgated his famous Edict of Nantes in 1598 establishing religious toleration, and there the father of the subject of this notice was born in 1771.  “In the midst of all these occupations in the course of a long and industrious life, he has not neglected opportunities, as they presented themselves, of forming collections of pictures, prints, and other art materials of value in his profession, as well as a considerable accumulation of autograph letters from distinguished men.  The first  named were dispersed under a reverse of fortune in 1852.

Among the last is a noteworthy epistle from Bayard Taylor, dated at Kennett Square, Chester County, Pennsylvania, when he was in his seventeenth year, asking Mr Sartain to receive

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him as an apprentice.  Thus we see how near the future representative of the nation at the German Court came to earning distinction in a path as widely different from that on which his reputation now rests.

“Much has appeared in print form from time to time concerning the personal character of the subject of this notice, and he has been so prominently before the public in various capacities during more than half a century that there has been abundant opportunity for arriving at a reasonable fair judgement.  It will suffice to quote but one of these, by no means the most laudatory, printed in the Phrenological Journal of New York, in the number for September, 1870.  Mr Fowler, the eminent phrenologist thus wrote after an examination, but before knowing who was his subject:

“This gentleman has a very excellent organisation for health and long life, and also for mental activity, physical vigor, and endurance.  There is such a balance between the temperaments as to produce harmonious action, with smoothness, energy and vigor.l

The result is an easy working, effective organization.

“We seldom meet with one who is more active, more

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earnest, or efficient.  He has enthusiasm tempered with coolness.  He has an indomitable will, engages in enterprises with a determination to succeed, and his ambition and strength increase with the multiplicity of difficulties.  He dwells with patience and persistency upon whatever he undertakes, and whatever he undertakes is done thoroughly and well.

“‘His social affections are prominent elements of his character.  He is gallant to women, fond of children, and very fraternal and cordial in intercourse with friends.  He is frank and candid, inclined to speak and act as he feels.  Enjoys making money, but uses it with liberality.  Is upright in spirit, just in judgement, hopeful in and ardent in reference to the future.  Is respectful and sympathetical, and kind to those who are in need.

“‘He has ample constructiveness, and with large ideality and form, shows taste in everything aesthetic.  His immense perceptive organs give him great powers of observation.  Is orderly and systematic in all he does, and attends to detail to the last degree.  With his excellent reasoning powers

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he is able to plan, invent and comprehend remote conditions and relations, and judges well of human character to exert a commanding influence.

The following is cut from the “Philadelphia Press” of February 22, 1886, reprinted from the “New York Commercial Advertisey” (sic)...

A Noted Philadelphian

Gossip about a man who seems to be getting younger every day of his life.

John Sartain, the engraver, is one of the noted characters of Philadelphia, which he has made his home for more than half a century.  He is said to have been the first mezzotint engravers of any repute, and to have produced more works than any living member of his profession.  Although English by birth, he is as thoroughly American in character, spirit and feeling as if his ancestors had been born here for generations.  He has, from his early

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youth, had the deepest interest in art; has travelled much abroad, and received various foreign orders of merit.  Nearly forty years ago he was, to his cost, the publisher and proprietor of Sartain’s Magazine, and afterward removed to Philadelphia.  Despite his seventy-eight years, he is as brimming with energy, ambition and plans as when he first emigrated to the United States.  He is spoken of by his friends as enjoying perpetual youth, and not one of them ever thinks of him as old.

Not long since, having heard of the encaustic (sic) portrait of Cleopatra (believed by many to have been taken from life), in a nobleman’s villa near Sorento, he at once set off for Italy to see it.  He was greatly impressed with it.  It its (sic) often asserted that he is the youngest artist in feeling and expectation, in all Philadelphia.

He has new schemes every day, and to carry half of them out he would need to live for

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at least three hundred years.  William Sartain the well known New York artist, is his son, who frequently regrets that he is so much older than his father.

__________________________________________________

Mr Sartain is prominent in the Order of Free Masons, and has received thirty-six degrees in its mysteries; is Past Master of his Lodge, and Past High Priest of his Chapter.  Has been for many years annually re-elected Grand Treasurer of twenty-nine degrees of the Ancient Accepted Rite and is a Rosicrucian.

As he was chief of the Art Department of the Great Centennial Exhibition in 1876, so he has been selected as the fittest man to occupy the corresponding position in the American Exhibition to be held in London in 1887.

Written by

William Samuel Sartin, 1921.

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Page 95 ends the hand written notes.

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Extract from Groliere’sEncyclopaedia.

Huguenots    {hue'-guh-nahts}

Huguenots is the name given to the French Calvinist Protestants of the 16th and 17th centuries. The word probably originated in early-16th-century Geneva, but it came into wide usage only after 1560. The formerly held theory that the term was derived from the German Eidgenossen, meaning "confederates," is untenable.

In its early stages, French Protestantism was largely inspired by Martin LUTHER and had its chief center in the Alsatian city of Strasbourg. Through the initial ambivalence of the French crown and the enthusiastic activities of preachers, Protestantism spread rapidly; by 1550, it may have included among its converts as much as one-fourth of all Frenchmen. After that date, the leadership of the movement was increasingly taken over by John CALVIN, who sent teams of missionary preachers from Geneva into France. Calvin also provided a coherent theology and disciplined organization through his Institutes of the Christian Religion, first printed in French in 1541.

With the onset of the French Wars of Religion (see RELIGION, WARS OF) in 1562, the Huguenots emerged not only as a religious movement but also as a highly organized military force. Although they were greatly outnumbered, they managed to hold their own, largely because of the leadership of the substantial number of noblemen who were Huguenots. Nevertheless, the wars tended to break the dynamism of the Huguenots and probably also greatly reduced their numbers. The bloodshed and atrocities on both sides culminated in the SAINT BARTHOLOMEW'S DAY MASSACRE (Aug. 24, 1572), when some 30,000 to 70,000 Protestants were slaughtered. The wars subsided after the Protestant king HENRY IV, who had come to the throne in 1589, nominally converted to Roman Catholicism and issued the Edict of Nantes (1598; see NANTES, EDICT OF), creating a de facto cease-fire and a state of partial religious toleration.

During the 17th century the Huguenots saw their power and privileges progressively undermined by the strongly Catholic kings LOUIS XIII and LOUIS XIV. They lost their last fortified city, guaranteed to them by the Edict of Nantes, when LA ROCHELLE fell (1628) to the troops of Cardinal RICHELIEU after a 14-month siege.

In 1685 the Edict of Nantes was revoked, and thousands of Protestants chose to emigrate from France rather than accept Catholicism. A revolt of Huguenot peasants, called CAMISARDS, in the Cevennes region was brutally suppressed (1702-11). When the full civil rights of the Protestants were restored under the French Revolution, their numbers had dwindled to only a small percentage of the population.

T. Tackett

Bibliography: Baird, Henry, The History of the Rise of the Huguenots of France, 2 vols. (1879; repr. 1970); Grant, A. J., The Huguenots (1934; repr. 1969); Kingdom, R. M., Geneva and the Coming of the Wars of Religion in France, 1555-1563 (1956).