John Christian Rauschner (born c. 1760) was a German artist who specialized in portraits made of wax.His name appears in contemporary and later sources in variety of spellings, presumably all referring to the same artist: John Christian Rauchner, Johann Christian Rauschner, John C. Rauschner, J.C. Rauschner; John Christopher Rauschner, Johann Christoph Rauschner. He worked for some time in the United States, travelling to Boston,"John C. Rauschner, artist in wax, 2 Winter Street." Boston Directory. 1807, 1810His son, portrait artist Henry Rauschner, had a "shop" in Boston ca.1809-1810. Henry died in 1812 while serving in the U.S. Army in South Carolina. cf. "Henry Rauschner, artist in wax, 3 Winter Street;" Boston Directory 1809. Independent Chronicle (Boston) 03-12-1810. "Deaths," The Pilot (Boston), Nov. 27, 1812 New York City,"Nature imitated. John Christopher Rauschner, artist. Member of the Imperial Academy of Sculpture at Vienna." Commercial Advertiser (NY), 01-02-1799 PhiladelphiaPhiladelphia Directory. 1811 and elsewhere. Examples of Rauschner's artwork are in the Albany Institute of History & Art;Smithsonian American Antiquarian Society;American Antiquarian Society Bostonian Society; Fruitlands Museum; Historic New England; Massachusetts Historical Society; Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston;MFA Boston New York Historical Society;NY Historical Society Peabody Essex Museum; Philadelphia Museum of Art; West Point Museum; the White House, Washington DC; and Winterthur Museum.Anita Schorsch. "A Key to the Kingdom: The Iconography of a Mourning Picture." Winterthur Portfolio, Spring, 1979, vol.14, no.1
Images Portraits by Rauschner
References
Further reading
The Spectator (NY); Date: 12-14-1803. [Anecdote about Mr. Rauschner and his waxworks]. Ethel Stanwood Bolton, American Wax Portraits, 3rd ed. (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co., 1929) "Wax profiles of Abraham Varick and others by J.C. Rauschner." Antiques, Vol. 30, September 1936, pp. 100–102. H.E. Keyes. "More Waxes by Rauschner." Antiques, Vol. 31, April 1937, pp. 186–187.