He was born in Perth Amboy, New Jersey, the son of an army officer wounded at the Battle of Quebec in 1759.

[2] After returning to America in 1787, he worked exclusively in the theater for 18 years, resuming painting out of economic necessity in 1805.

[3] In his lifetime, he produced more than sixty plays, most of which were adaptations or translations from French or German works.

However, he is best known for his encyclopedic three-volume History of the Rise and Progress of the Arts of Design in the United States, which was published in 1834, and which is now an invaluable source of information about artists, collecting, and artistic life generally in the colonial and federal periods.

His plays include: In 1825, Dunlap was one of the founders of the National Academy of Design, and taught at its school.