Details
Title Brown, M. E. D. (Manneville Elihu Dearing)
Date 1810-September 1, 1896
Description Manneville Elihu Dearing Brown, born in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, on April 13, 1810, was a premier early Philadelphia lithographer and painter. Trained ca. 1827-1831 as an artist in the prominent Boston lithographic firm the Pendletons, Brown entered the lithographic trade in Philadelphia in 1831 when he established his own shop at 5 Library Street. Brown served as the main lithographer and pressman of his shop and he designed and printed lithographs for the "Floral Magazine" (1832-1834); "American Journal of Science and Arts" (1832-1833); and "Cabinet of Natural History" (1830-1834). Brown also produced loose prints including portraits, city views, sheet music covers, and advertisements. Noted works include the humorous allegorical swine print "Prodigal Son" (1832) praised in the "United States Gazette and one of the earliest Philadelphia news event prints showing "The Gold & Silver Artificers of Phila. In Civic Procession 22 Feb 1832" in honor of George Washington's centennial birthday.
In 1833, Brown engaged his former Pendleton colleague Nathaniel Currier as a lithographer for a year before Currier relocated to New York and Brown left Philadelphia and the trade under financial duress. The establishment despite being in operation until only 1834 produced some of the finest lithographs during the early years of the trade. During the early 1830s, Brown also drew for his former employers the Pendleton's New York firm in addition to exhibiting his art work at the Artist's Fund Society of Philadelphia in 1835 and the National Academy of Design in 1845 and 1850.
After 1834, Brown relocated to Upstate New York (Geneva and Utica) where he concentrated on portrait painting before he traveled to Europe where he studied art 1839-1849. Following this period, he returned to Utica and worked as a respected painter, particularly of portraits, until his death on September 1, 1896. He was buried at Forest Hill Cemetery in Utica, New York, survived by a nephew.
Is part of Philadelphia on Stone Biographical Dictionary of Lithographers
Call number Philadelphia on Stone Biographical Dictionary of Lithographers
Bibliographic citation Carey, "American Lithography" (PhD. diss., 1954), 196-205
Courtney, "M.E.D. Brown (1810-1896), American Lithographer and Painter" American Art Journal (Autumn 1980): 66-77
Groce & Wallace, 87
Last, 170
Peters, 115
Pierce & Slauterback, 166
Wainwright, 22, 25
WWWAA , 469