By the time he entered the partnership with Wood, he was producing his first oil paintings, operating a drawing school, and developing inexpensive silhouette portraits.

In New York City, Jarvis enjoyed great popularity, though his eccentric mode of life impacts his work.

Although he made occasional trips back to his home base in New York City, he remained in Baltimore for several years.

During the 1820s and 1830s, while maintaining his residence in New York City, he worked in South Carolina, Kentucky, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Washington, Virginia, Ohio, and Georgia.

[1] Jarvis rose to the top of his profession by 1814, when he took over an unprecedented commission for six full-length portraits of the naval heroes of the War of 1812 for the City of New York; Gilbert Stuart gave up the important project after a dispute with the patrons.

For over a decade, he remained the premier portrait painter in New York City, where he established important ties to the political, mercantile, and cultural elite.

Jarvis maintained the status of a social outsider known for his ostentatious dress, flippant manner, and consumption of alcohol.