Jacob Marling (artist)

Many early American artists traveled from community to community looking for subjects to paint. Jacob Marling decided to settle at the center of North Carolina political activity when he moved to Raleigh from Warrenton, where he had been a scenery painter in a theater. He painted and worked as an art instructor and decorator. He even worked as a museum director when the North Carolina Museum opened in 1813. The museum functioned as a reading room and featured collections of historical artifacts and curiosities. In the 1820s, Marling painted the North Carolina Capitol building that was destroyed by fire in 1831. Marling’s painting is the key visual document of the appearance of the building.

tags: NC art, NC artist, North Carolina