ROBERT

See also:

• WALTER, HUBERT (d. 1205)
• WALTER, JOHN (1738/9-1812)

WALTER

See also:

• WEIR (from O. Eng. wer, a dam; cognate with werian, to defend, guard; cf. Ger. Wehr, defence)
• ROBERT WALTER WEIR (1803-1889)

WEIR (1803-1889)  , American portrait and historical painter, was born at New Rochelle, New York, on the 18th of June 1803 . He was a pupil of Jarvis, was elected to the National Academy of Design in 1829, and was teacher of drawing at the United States Military Academy at West Point in 1834-1846, and professor of drawing there in 1846-1876 . He died in New York City on the 1st of May 1889 . Among his better-known works are: " The Embarkation of the Pilgrims " (in the rotunda of the United States Capitol at Washington, D.C.); " Landing of Hendrik Hudson "; " Evening of the Crucifixion"; " Columbus before the Council of Salamanca "; " Our Lord on the Mount of Olives "; " Virgil and Dante crossing the Styx," and several portraits, now at West Point, and " Peace and War " in the Chapel there . His son, JOHN FERGUSON WEIR (b . 1841), painter and sculptor, became a Member of the National Academy of Design in 1866, and was made director of the Yale University Art School in 1868 . Another son, JULIAN ALDEN WEIR (b . 1852), studied under his father, and under J . L . Ger8me, and became a distinguished portrait, figure and landscape painter . He was one of the founders of the Society of American Artists in 1877, and became a member of the National Academy of Design (1886) and of the Ten American Painters, New York .