John R. Chapin

1823-1904

American (Providence, Rhode Island; Buffalo, New York)

A designer, painter, illustrator, and engraver, John Chapin became especially noted for his Civil War illustrations and his western scenes, although it is unknown if he ever visited the West. He was born in Providence, and grew up in New York City where he studied law and then art as a student of Samuel F.B. Morse.

From 1843 to 1845, Chapin traveled throughout the South as a correspondent and artist for Gleason's Pictorial. When that magazine failed, he became a commercial illustrator in New York until 1850, and later returned to New York to organize the Art Department for Harper's Magazine. From 1850 to 1860, he created drawings in the Patent Office in Washington DC, and from 1861 during the Civil War was an important field artist. After 1890, when he retired, he had retained such fascination for this subject that he continued to depict Civil War subjects in watercolor and India ink.