Oil on canvas of Archibald Loudon, painted in 1807 by Cezeron (1952.005.001).
Francis Cezeron an itinerant portrait artist was born in Virginia in 1747 and died in Kentucky in 1828. He passed through Western Pennsylvania painting portraits in the first decade of the nineteenth century.1
He appeared in Lancaster in 1806 as a teacher of dance and French. There he also painted profiles and knew painter, Jacob Eicholtz.2
In 1806 Cezeron placed ads in the Carlisle Herald stating that he was reopening his Schools for Dance and French. Ads appeared again in 1807 for the school.3
Always on the move, Cezeron was in Frederick, MD in 1809 and advertised that he painted portraits in oil in the ‘Frederick Town Herald.’ In 1811 he advertised a Cotillion Party in the Lancaster Journal. Returning to Hagerstown, Maryland, in 1813, Cezeron’s ad for a dance school also stated ‘continues to take likenesses in oil at $10.’4
Works of Francis Cezeron in the collection of the Cumberland County Historical Society include:
Clarence I. Lewis, a decorating painter, was born in St. Clair, Pennsylvania. He left high school his sophomore year to apprentice as decorating painter. In 1917 he joined the military as an insignia painter where he would later he paint equipment.
[2] ART IN NINETEENTH-CENTURY PITTSBURGH exhibit at University of Pittsburgh. [1]
[2] Ibid
[3] Ibid.
[4] Ibid.
[5] CCHS collection