John Eckstein

Johann or John Eckstein (1735–1817), was a German-born sculptor, engraver and painter who worked briefly in London before establishing himself in his homeland and then in America.

[3] After a year he returned to the Grand Ducal court, where he worked on the sculpture of the Hofkirche and made wax reliefs, including a surviving portrait of Friedrich Franz I.

[3] In 1793 Eckstein wrote to George Washington from Potsdam, requesting money to pay for his passage to the United States, as he intended to settle in Philadelphia.

It is not known if Washington responded,[5] but Eckstein was in America by November of the same year, when he and his son Frederick advertised an exhibition of paintings, sculpture, and wax models at their house at 323 Market Street, Philadelphia.

Eckstein became a founder member of the Philadelphia Academy and between 1810 and 1814 also showed work at the Society of Artists, where his exhibits included an equestrian figure of Washington, apparently intended for a monument to be erected in the city.

According to an obituary "he had to lament that his professional labours did not meet with that encouragement in a new country, which is so liberally bestowed upon genius in Europe; and, like many of his brother artists, he had to struggle with adversity during many of the latter years of his life.