Mr. Benjamin Schaum
1808–10
Medium
Oil on yellow poplar panel
Dimensions
21 × 16.8 cm (8 1/4 × 6 5/8 in.)
Classification
painting
Department
Arts of the Americas
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
61148
Art Historical Context
**Mr. Benjamin Schaum** (1808–10) is a charming portrait by Jacob Eichholtz, a self-taught Pennsylvania folk artist active in the early American Republic. Painted in oil on a yellow poplar panel—a lightweight, locally sourced wood common in vernacular American art—this intimate work measures just 8¼ × 6⅝ inches, suggesting it was created for private display, perhaps in a family home. Eichholtz, born in 1776, captured the likenesses of merchants, farmers, and craftsmen like Benjamin Schaum, reflecting the rising middle class's desire to commemorate everyday lives amid post-Revolutionary prosper...
About the Artist
Jacob Eichholtz · 1776–1842
Comment on works: portraits