(August 14, 1773 - March 20, 1844) was an American lawyer, soldier and politician who served as United States Secretary of War from 1828 to 1829. He graduated from Yale College in 1791, studied law in Litchfield, Connecticut, was admitted to the bar, and commenced practice in Canandaigua, New York in 1793. He served as clerk of Ontario County from 1797 to 1804 and was a member of the New York State Assembly in 1802 and again in 1828. In the fall of 1809, Porter moved to Black Rock, New York and was elected as a Democratic-Republican to the Eleventh and Twelfth United States Congresses, serving from March 4, 1809 to March 3, 1813, but declined renomination. During his service in Congress, he was a leading figure among Congressional "war hawks" and Chairman of the Committee that recommended preparation for war with Great Britain. At the same time, from 1810 to 1816, he was a member of the Erie Canal Commission, a commission on inland navigation established in 1810 by the New York state Legislature to survey a canal route from the Hudson River to the Great Lakes. During the War of 1812, Porter was initially quartermaster general of the New York State Militia from May to October 1812. He participated in and criticized General Alexander Smyth's abortive operations against British Canada in 1812, culminating in a bloodless duel between the two. The historian John R. Elting wrote of the duel, stating "Unfortunately, both missed."[1] He later raised and commanded a brigade of New York militia that incorporated a Six Nations Indian contingent and led his command with distinction. For his actions, he was presented a gold medal under joint resolution of Congress dated November 3, 1814 "for gallantry and good conduct" during the Battle of Chippewa, the Battle of Niagara, and the Battle of Erie. Porter was Secretary of State of New York from February 1815 to February 1816. He was also elected to the Fourteenth United States Congress. Although his term in Congress began on March 4, 1815, the actual Session began only in December, and he took his seat on December 11, 1815. On January 23, 1816, he resigned, having been appointed a Commissioner under the Treaty of Ghent, which caused a controversy as to the constitutionality of sitting in Congress and holding this commissionership at the same time. In 1817, his political friends of Tammany Hall printed ballots with his name and distributed them among their followers to vote for Porter for Governor of New York at the special election which was held after the resignation of Governor Daniel D. Tompkins. DeWitt Clinton, the otherwise unopposed candidate, was fiercely hated by the Tammany organization, and Porter received about 1,300 votes although he was not really running for the office. Porter became a regent of the University of the State of New York in 1824, and served in that capacity until 1830. From May 16, 1828 to March 9, 1829, Porter served as Secretary of War in the Cabinet of President John Quincy Adams, and was an advocate for the removal of Eastern Indians beyond the Mississippi. He moved to Niagara Falls in 1836 and was a presidential elector on the Whig ticket in 1840. He died at Niagara Falls in 1844, and was interred in Oakwood Cemetery. Fort Porter and Porter Avenue at Buffalo were named in his honor.  Related Paintings of Peter Buell Porter :. | Detail of Abraham on the Way to Canaan | La danse (mk26) | A Naiad or Hylas with a Nymph | Portrait of a girl with a rosary | Helene Louise Elizabeth de Mecklembourg Schwerin, Duchess D'Orleans with Prince Louis Philippe Alber |
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Pope Alexander
American artist , b.1849 d.1924
Stefano Torelli
Bologna 1712-St Petersburg 1784 was an Italian painter. He was born in Bologna. He studied first under his father, Felice Torelli, and then under Francesco Solimena. The future King of Poland, Augustus III, brought him to Dresden in 1740, where he painted altar-pieces and ceiling decorations, many destroyed in the Seven Years' War. He painted figures in Canaletto's twenty-nine views of Dresden (1741). In 1762 he was summoned to the Russian court where he painted ceilings in the Royal Palace, and some portraits, among the latter one of the Empress Elizabeth in armor. He was a clever caricaturist, and etched a few plates. He died in St. Petersburg.
Albert Gallatin Hoit
Albert Gallatin Hoit (December 13, 1809 - December 18, 1856) was an American painter who lived in Boston, Massachusetts. He painted portraits of William Henry Harrison, Daniel Webster and Brenton Halliburton. Hoit was born in Sandwich, New Hampshire, December 13, 1809, to Gen. Daniel Hoit and Sally Flanders. Siblings included William Henry Hoit. Hoit graduated from Dartmouth College in 1829. He married Susan Hanson in 1838; children included Anna M. Hoit. Hoit "devoted his life to portrait painting, first at Portland, Maine, in 1831, and then in Bangor and Belfast, Maine, and St. John's, N.B. until Boston, Mass., became his permanent home in 1839." He also travelled in Europe, "Oct. 1842 to July 1844, ... enjoying the galleries of art in Italy, Paris, and London." He created portraits of Pietro Bachi, Johanna Robinson Hazen, J. Eames, and others. He painted a portrait of Daniel Webster "for Paran Stevens, which hung for years in the Revere House, Boston, and now belongs to the Union League Club, New York." He was affiliated with the Boston Artists' Association; and exhibited at the gallery of the New England Art Union in the 1850s. In 1848, he kept a studio on Tremont Row in Boston, and lived in Roxbury. By 1852, he'd moved his studio to Washington Street. Hoit died in Jamaica Plain, December 18, 1856, at age 47.