Portrait of Hatter John Mays of Schaefferstown

Maker Jacob Maentel (American, 1763 - 1863)

Additional Title(s)

Portrait of John Mays of Schaefferstown, Pennsylvania

Collections

ClassificationsDRAWINGS

Dateca. 1830

Mediumwatercolor, gouache, ink and pencil on paper

Dimensionsframe: 18 x 15 x 1 in. (45.7 x 38.1 x 2.5 cm.)

DescriptionMan standing in front of a wall of hats

Credit LineThe Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens. Gift of Jonathan and Karin Fielding

Status

Not on view

Label TextJohn Mays (1813-1898) was a hatter in the market town of Schaefferstown, Pennsylvania. The fashionable attire he wears may reflect the fact that his father was a tailor. Schaefferstown, located at a major crossroads between Harrisburg and Lancaster, catered to well-heeled travelers and business people. Beaver-fur top hats of the sort on display in Mays's shop (in black, brown, and buff-colored fur) were standard headgear for gentlemen at the time. The artist Jacob Maentel emigrated from Germany to America in 1805. He settled among the Pennsylvania Germans in the state's southeastern counties before moving to Indiana around 1838, earning his living as a portrait painter. His depiction of a young and proud John Mays may have been commissioned by Mays to mark the inauguration of his hat shop.

Object number2016.25.102