Christian Friedrich Mayr

Magazine Antiques, Nov, 1998 by Helene M. Kastinger Riley

As far as is known, the American genre paintings and portraits of Christian Friedrich Mayr were first exhibited at the National Academy of Design in New York City in 1854, two years before he was elected an associate member of the academy. In 1849 he was elected to full membership in the academy and in accordance with the rules he submitted a self-portrait (Pl. I) and offered Reading the New (Pl. III) as a characteristic example of his work. At the time, Mayr lived at 58 Lispenard Street in New York City, where he died two years later. In recording the event, the academy's historian noted laconically:

Died, Christian Mayer, Academician - a foreign artist. His works are but little known. He was a man of merit, but not of marked ability. As an American artist by education, he probably would not have commanded election into the body of Academicians.(1)

The commentary betrays a certain disdain for Mayr's European education in the classical tradition.

Until recently, little was known of Mayr's family and upbringing, and not many of his works had been located. He was born on October 19, 1803, in Nuremberg, Germany, where his father, Johann Daniel von Mayer (1778-1810) was an artist, engraver, and entrepreneur, and himself the son of an art dealer. Johann von Mayer married Maria Sophia Hensel, the daughter of a surgeon, shortly after she gave birth to Christian Mayr.(2) At the time Johann von Mayer was in business preparing Japan lacquer and pictures for snuffboxes and ornaments with the help of his friend and employee Christian Friedrich Fues (1772-1836), an artist and engraver who lived on his premises.(3) Fues was Christian Mayr's godfather, and, when Johann von Mayer died, he took over the education of Christian and his younger brother Heinrich.(4) In 1813 Fues married his friend's widow.

Fues's excellent training provided him with a comfortable income and a professorship at the Royal Art Academy in Nuremberg. The city hall commissioned nine portraits from him to honor outstanding citizens, and he created altarpieces, landscapes, and genre paintings as well.(5) Fues was a practical man and taught his stepsons their craft in the traditional classical maimer when Philipp Otto Runge (1777-1810) was introducing his romantic allegories and Caspar David Friedrich (1774-1840) was raising the symbolism of the romantic school of painting to its highest level.

In September 1819 Christian Mayr entered the Royal Art Academy in Nuremberg, where his report card commented "aptitude, assiduity, and moral behavior: ordinary."(6) In October 1821 he exhibited a classical head, three drawings after Anthony Van Dyck (1599-1641) and some of the classical busts at the academy, and by the next term his report card showed an improvement to "good."(7) For some time he worked as a lithographer and architectural painter,(8) and in July 1823 he traveled to Munich to study at the acclaimed Royal Academy of Fine Arts there, specializing in the depiction of architectural monuments.(9)

Nothing further is known of Christian Mayr until he exhibited at the National Academy of Design in New York City in 1834. Of his six paintings on view there, five appear to have been portraits, the mainstay of his income in the United States.

Brooklyn Fire Engine Company No. 1 [ILLUSTRATION FOR FIGURE 1 OMITTED] reflects not only Mayr's training in architectural illustration and the graphic arts, but a European's perception about the United States. The prominent flag on the left seems to rise through the awning of a storefront, symbolizing the rapid mercantile and industrial growth of Brooklyn following the American Revolution.(10) The small flag on the firehouse on the right provides a visual complement and incorporates the past into the present. Fire Station One houses the "Waschington [sic] Company," as spelled out on the scroll above the door, commemorating George Washingtons defensive stand during the Battle of Long Island in 1776. The battle was fought on the very ground the painting depicts, the north side of Prospect Street near Main Street. The fireman Thomas H. Redding (left), talking to Peter B. Anderson, appears to be wearing a Purple Heart, the oldest American decoration for military merit, which was inaugurated by Washington in 1782.(11) In front of the firehouse door is a street lamp, symbolizing not only safety but also the spirit of enlightenment. In short, the painting is full of the symbolism also found in German romantic painting of Mayr's time. The intricately ornamented fire engine is as carefully painted as one of the pieces of lacquerware from the Mayr family business in Germany.

After traveling for some time in the northeast Mayr shifted his attention to the south, working for several years in Charleston, South Carolina, where, in 1838, he became a United States citizen.(12) Charleston had a large German-American population receptive to Mayr's work. In 1840 he lived and had his gallery above the apothecary of Dr. DelaMotta at the corner of King and Broad Streets.(13) The following year he moved to King and Hasell Streets, above Jonathan Bryan's store.(14) In 1841 he advertised as a daguerreotypist and portrait painter, conducted a class "for instruction of Ladies in drawing and oil painting,"(15) and sold many paintings at his studio and through raffles.(16)