' The pump was quite as much admired as the
'Jupiter,' and it proved as great a failure.
Succeeding as a portrait painter, he went, in 1818, on the invitation
of his uncle, Dr. Finley, to Charleston, in South Carolina, and opened a
studio there. After a single season he found himself in a position to
marry, and on October 1, 1818, was united to Lucretia P. Walker, of
Concord, New Hampshire, a beautiful and accomplished lady. He thrived so
well in the south that he once received as many as one hundred and fifty
orders in a few weeks; and his reputation was such that he was honoured
with a commission from the Common Council of Charleston to execute a
portrait of James Monroe, then President of the United States. It was
regarded as a masterpiece. In January, 1821, he instituted the South
Carolina Academy of Fine Arts, which is now extinct.
After four years of life in Charleston he returned to the north with
savings to the amount of L600, and settled in New York. He devoted
eighteen months to the execution of a large painting of the House of
Representatives in the Capitol at Washington; but its exhibition proved
a loss, and in helping his brothers to pay his father's debts the
remains of his little fortune were swept away.
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