Archives of Maryland
(Biographical Series)


Francis Blackwell Mayer (1827-1899)
MSA SC 3520-13814

Biography:

Born: December 27, 1827 in Baltimore, MD

Father: Charles Frederick Mayer, attorney

Mother: Eliza Blackwell Mayer (1803-1885), daughter of Captain Francis Blackwell

Siblings:
• Half-Brother, Henry Christian Mayer (1821-1846)
• Brother, Alfred M. Mayer (November 13, 1836-1897)

Marriage: February 10, 1883, married Ellen Benton Brewer, widow.

Education: Studied art in Baltimore and Paris.  He studied in Baltimore with Arthur J. Miller in the 1840s and under Ernest Fischer, a German artist living in Baltimore in 1850.  He also studied in Paris with Charles Gleyre and Gustave Brion in Paris between 1864 and 1869

Memberships:
• Maryland Art Association
• Maryland Historical Society (1848-?)
• Vice President of the Anne Arundel County Historical Society
• The Allston Association (Board of Directors)
• The Charcoal Club
• Local Improvement Association of Annapolis (helped found in 1884)

Writings:
•  “Aunt Eve Interviewed” Harpers New Monthly 46 (March, 1873)
• “Old Maryland Manners” Scribners 17 (January, 1879)
• Signs and Symbols” Scribners 17 (September, 1879)
• “Old Baltimore and Its Merchants” Harpers New Monthly (January, 1880)
• “The Western Shore of Maryland” Popular Monthly (April, 1884)
• Research for “Customs and Character of the Capital” in The Ancient City, 1649-1887 by Elihu S. Riley

Major Paintings:
• “Feast of Mondawmin” (1857)
• “Doing and Dreaming” (1858)
• “The Nineteenth Century” (1869)
• With Pen and Pencil on the Frontier (1872)
• “Annapolis in 1750” (1876)
• “Talking Business in 1750” (1879)
• Pen and Ink drawings depicting the Baltimore Centennial (1880)
• “Crowning a Troubadour” (1885)
• “Treaty of Traverse des Sioux, Minnesota” (1886)
• “The Planting of the Colony of Maryland” (1893)
• “The Burning of the Peggy Stewart” (1896)
• “Waiting Orders” (date unknown)
• “The Thunder Dance” (date unknown)

Died: July 28, 1899 in Annapolis, MD

Burial: Annapolis City Cemetery

Extended biography

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