Dunlap,William

Dunlap,William an eminent American painter, was born at Perth Amboy in 1766. He commenced painting portraits in crayons at the age of sixteen. The next year he spent some time near Princeton, N.J., then the headquarters of Washington. Here he saw the general often, and painted his portrait and that of his wife. He resided three years in London, and returned to America in 1787. In 1821 he began the picture of Christ Rejected, at New York. He afterwards painted the Bearing of the Cross and the Calvary, which was considered his best production, and gained him considerable reputation. Mr. Dunlap wrote a History of the Rise and Progress of the Arts in the United States (1834, 2 volumes, 8vo), and a History of the Stage in the United States (2 volumes, 8vo). He died in 1835. See Spooner, Biog. Hist. of the Fine Arts, s.v.