John Drinker (March 12, 1760 – February 16, 1826) was an American portrait artist.

Biography

Drinker was born on March 12, 1760, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. His parents were John Drinker (1716–1787) and Susanna Allen Drinker (1721–1787). His father made a number of successful real estate investments in Philadelphia, including the property known as Drinker's Court. In 1787, John Drinker, Jr., opened a drawing school at Philadelphia, where he taught "the art of Drawing and Colouring." That same year, both of his parents died and with his inheritance, he was able to buy property in

Berkeley County, Virginia Berkeley County is located in the Shenandoah Valley in the Eastern Panhandle region of West Virginia in the United States. The county is part of the Hagerstown- Martinsburg, MD- WV Metropolitan Statistical Area. As of the 2020 census, the cou ...

(now West Virginia). He bought and sold land in Virginia for the next 36 years. Drinker might have also moved to Virginia between the years 1790 and 1793. On April 12, 1797, he married Elizabeth Peppers in Berkeley County, Virginia, and returned to Philadelphia. In 1801, they returned to Berkeley County, and on January 1, 1808, John bought additional property in Berkeley County, now known as the John Drinker House. He died at his home in Berkeley County on February 16, 1826. He was buried at Morgan Chapel Cemetery. Elizabeth Drinker lived until April 15, 1858.

Portraiture

Of the eight portraits that have been attributed to him, three are signed, but by 1981 only one of these three had been located. All of the portraits are of prominent figures in the Berkeley and Jefferson Counties of Virginia and West Virginia. These works include: * Sarah deMontargis Rutherford (born c. 1795), Oil on canvas, Signed: A. D. 180 or 7by Drinker. * Portrait of Dr. John Briscoe, Jr. (July 2, 1752 – May 12, 1818). Oil on canvas, c. 1801, Attributed to John Drinker. * Eleanor Magruder Briscoe (January 16, 1766). Oil on canvas, c. 1801, Attributed to John Drinker. * Warner Lewis Wormeley (March 24, 1785 – 1814). Oil on canvas, c. 1803, Attributed to John Drinker. *

George Steptoe Washington George Steptoe Washington (August 17, 1771 – January 10, 1809) was a Virginia planter and militia officer who died at the age of 37 of tuberculosis. He was a nephew of the first President of the United States George Washington, and one of the l ...

(1771–1809)- Oil on canvas, c. 1798, Attributed to John Drinker * Lucy Payne Washington (1776–1848). Oil on canvas, c. 1798, Attributed to John Drinker. * Gabriel Jones (1724–1806) and Margaret Strother Jones (1726–1822). 1792, Signed: Joe Drinker.

Legacy

The John Drinker House was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

in 1980.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Drinker, John 1760 births 1826 deaths 18th-century American painters 18th-century American male artists American male painters 19th-century American painters Artists from Philadelphia American portrait painters People from Bunker Hill, West Virginia Painters from Virginia Painters from Pennsylvania 19th-century American male artists