friendly influences, he was commissioned by Congress to paint The Landing of Columbus for the Rotunda of the United States Capitol. Going to Paris, he hired a French artist, who, it is said, did most of the work. It was engraved for the United States five-dollar banknotes. This painting was later reproduced in an engraving used on the Columbian 2c Postage Issue of 1893. Vanderlyn was the first American to study in France instead of in England, and to acquire accurate draughtsmanship. He was more academic than his fellows; but, though faithfully and capably executed, it was thought that his work was rather devoid of charm, according to the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica. His Landing of Columbus has been called by Appleton's Cyclopedia "hardly more than respectable." He died in poverty at Kingston, New York, on September 23, 1852. He is buried in Wiltwyck Rural Cemetery in Kingston, NY. Gallery Notes References Further reading External links City of Kingston, New York, Web pages on John Vanderlyn. Study for Landing of Columbus at the Birmingham Museum of Art 1775 births 1852 deaths American people of Dutch descent American neoclassical painters 18th-century American painters 18th-century American male artists American male painters 19th-century American painters 19th-century American male artists People from Kingston, New York Painters from New York (state) National Academy of Design faculty National Academy of Design members American history painters