Artist/Maker

Welfare, Christian Daniel

Place Made

Date Made

1825

Medium

oil on canvas

Dimensions

HOA: 56″; WOA: 47″

Accession Number

P-71

Description

A painting of Napoleon on horseback. Oil on canvas with a reproduction frame.

History

LABEL NOTES: This painting is a copy of one by Jacques-Louis David (1748-1825) who was appointed court painter by Napoleon Bonaparte when he became Emperor. The portrait was painted to order between 1810-1816 and represents Bonaparte crossing the icy summit of Mount St. Bernard, pointing the way across the snow-bound Alps to Italy.
RELATED NAME: David, Jacques-Louis

Artist Biography

ARTIST BIO: Christian Daniel Welfare (Wohlfahrt) was born June 12, 1796 in Salem, North Carolina. He died August 30, 1841 in Salem. His parents were Jacob Wohlfahrt and Anna Elizabeth Schneider Wohlfahrt. Daniel married Catharina Hege in 1828, together they had three children.

“Welfare was briefly apprenticed to a joiner. He later became a teacher in the Boys School and during his lifetime served the community in many ways: sick-nurse of the Single Brother, tavern keeper, member of the Aufsher Collegium, member of the Salem Light Infantry Company, delegate from the Salem Congregation to the Synod in Herrnhut in 1836.” (Bivins & Welshimer, p.96) Daniel Welfare was also the first portrait and landscape artist in Salem. He studied painting in Philadelphia under Thomas Sully. In 1825, he exhibited at the Philadelphia Academy of Fine Arts.

Credit Line

Wachovia Historical Society Collection