Choose a mood and the room itself answers — the light cools or warms, the air changes pace, and only the works that carry that feeling step forward from the dark. Everything else recedes into shadow.
A Transient Likeness: The Life and Art of John Christian Rauschner Born in Frankfurt, Germany around 1760, John Christian Rauschner emerged as a fascinating figure in the landscape of early American portraiture. He wasn’t a painter capturing fleeting moments on canvas, but a sculptor working with the delicate medium of wax – an art form that offered an uncanny immediacy and intimacy. While his origins lie steeped in the traditions of E
uropean *Modelleurs* and *Stuccateurs*, Rauschner's artistic journey took him across the Atlantic to a burgeoning nation eager to document its prominent citizens, and he became a peripatetic artist traveling extensively throughout the eastern seaboard. His name appears in historical records under various spellings – Rauchner, Rauschner, C. Rauschner – hinting at the transient nature of his practice and perhaps even a deliberate attempt…