Johann Mongles Culverhouse
Fruit and Vegetable Market
Night Market
Reading the News
The Death of Desoto
Warmth of the Hearth
Johann Mongles Culverhouse(1825 - 1895)
Johann Mongels Culverhouse was one of six children born to parents R. Culverhouse and C. Mongels in Rotterdam, Holland in 1825. Around twenty-four years of age, Johann moved to the United States, where he settled in the New York area. He created paintings that appealed to the American art market, and focused on genre scenes and idealized landscapes. Despite his audience, Johann Mongels Culverhouse referred back to his strongest influences as a painter when creating his own canvasses; 17th Century Dutch art. Market Before Dawn is a wonderful example of this intermingling of Dutch and American ideas. Here, Mongels presents a market scene taking place under the moonlight. Characters in Dutch attire are dispersed throughout the lower portion of the canvas and are shown interacting with street vendors selling vegetables, meats and poultry. The tradition of the night market was a popular theme amongst Dutch painters of the 17th Century. Known as “candlelight paintings” because of the common inclusion of candles and moonlight, this genre flourished amidst the Salons of the time.
According to the Syracuse Journal, Culverhouse had established a studio in the art gallery of Judson N. Knapp at 47 Genesee Street in 1871. One year later, in 1872 he moved to the St. Charles Hotel in Syracuse. Market Before Dawn was probably created while working out of either his Genesse Street studio or his residence at the St. Charles Hotel. Johann became a member of the Brooklyn Art Association, and exhibited with them in 1877 and 1888. A market scene titled Market Scene in Amsterdam was exhibited in December of 1877. Market Before Dawn could quite possibly be this exhibition painting.
Johann Mongels Culverhouse contributed to other exhibitions while living in the New York area such as the National Academy of Design exhibitions of 1865 and 1866. It is known that he traveled back and forth to Europe several times during his career, but mainly remained in America from 1849-1891. Johann Mongels Culverhouse died in New York City around 1895. The exact date and location of his death is unknown.