Cornelius Tiebout (1773?-1832) was an American copperplate engraver. According to the Library of Congress and many followers, Tiebout was born about 1773.Library of Congress Authorities: Cornelius Tiebout If so, his earliest known engraving was published while he was about fifteen years old.Cornelius Tiebout Engravings: Part 1: Earliest Engravings (1788-1789)
Biography Tiebout was born to a Dutch Huguenot family, probably in New York.C. H. Tiebout and Francis V. Morrell, The Ancestry and Posterity of Cornelius Henry Tiebout of Brooklyn, printed for private distribution, 1910, p. 3. He was apprenticed to New York silversmith John Burger (1747-1828).New York State Silversmiths, edited by H. F. Darling, Eggertsville, New York, 1964, p. 176. Tiebout and Burger's son published (probably in 1789) a songbook entitled Amphion.Irving Lowens, "Amphion: Another Piracy from Andrew Law?" in Richard S. Hill: Tributes from Friends, compiled and edited by C. J. Bradley and J. B. Coover, Detroit Studies in Music Bibliography, no. 58, Detroit, 1987, p. 195.
Among young Tiebout's many engravings during 1790-1793 are 47 illustrations in The New York Magazine; or, Literary Repository.Cornelius Tiebout Engravings: Part 2. His engraving of Trinity Church, New York City, appears in the first issue of this magazine, dated the first day of 1790. Each issue of the Magazine that includes a Tiebout engraving also presents, on the contents page, an announcement about the engraving. The accompanying articles provide details of historic interest. Among the 47 subjects are the Federal Edifice in New York City (March, 1790; now Federal Hall), Columbia College (May, 1790, now Columbia University)), Mount Aetna, (November, 1790, now Mount Etna, in Sicily), West Point (March, 1791, now United States Military Academy), Plan of the City of Washington (June, 1792, Washington, D.C.), and views of rivers, historic residences, and churches. The publication of these engravings in the New York Magazine was of great importance to Tiebout's early career. The publisher, T. and J. Swords, approved of Tiebout's "costly copperplate engravings", and they published a map by Tiebout in issues of the New York City Directory for the years 1789-1793, 1795, and 1796. These directories and other Tiebout engravings can be viewed online from the New York Public Library.https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/search/index?keywords=Cornelius+Tiebout&sort=keyDate_st+asc#/?scroll=56
It seems likely that all published maps engraved by Tiebout appeared before he moved from New York to Philadelphia in 1800. These include separate maps of southern states and northern states in 1789. In view of Tiebout's published engravings before 1790, along with other evidence, it is biographically notable that the year 1777—widely published as the year of Tiebout's birth—is less acceptable than the estimate "1773?" given elsewhere.George C. Groce and David H. Wallace, The New York Historical Society's Dictionary of Artists in America 1564-1860, Yale University Press, 1957, p. 630. (Another source indicates that Tiebout was born in 1770.New York State Silversmiths, edited by H. F. Darling, Eggersville, New York, 1964, p. 176. His siblings, for whom documentation exists, were born during 1754-1767.New York Genealogical and Biographical Society Collections, Vol. 3: Baptisms, Reformed Dutch Church New York 1731-1800.)
Tiebout engraved the title page, dated 1789, of Survey of the Roads of the United States of America by Christopher Colles, and possibly he engraved some of the maps in the Survey and taught Colles's daughter Eliza how to do so, leading to recognition of Eliza as the earliest female American engraver.Walter W. Ristow, "Eliza Colles, America's First Female Map Engraver", The Map Collector vol. 10 (1980), pp. 14-17.
Another boost for Tiebout's early career was the inclusion of 14 of his engravings in a major publication, the Collected Works of Josephus.Flavius Josephus, The Whole Genuine and Complete Works of Flavius Josephus, translated by G. Maynard, New York, 1792. The frontispiece of this book was engraved, after English artist Conrad Martin Metz (1749-1827), by Tiebout. According to the caption, the engraving shows the 1st-century Jewish historian Josephus holding a book and writing, "inspired by Historic Muse holding Mirror of Truth in the clouds…".
Late in 1793, Tiebout moved to London. According to Tiebout's daughter Caroline, Tiebout resided in the house of Pennsylvania-born artist Benjamin West during 1793-1796.H. Guynes, "The Simon Wattles Kellogg Family of Robertson County, Texas", typescript in The Working Men's Institute, New Harmony, Indiana, undated, p. 2. In London, Tiebout engraved five portraits that were published in London.David McNeely Stauffer, American Engravers upon Copper and Steel, v. 2, 520-533. Referring to Tiebout's London portrait of John Jay, Stauffer wrote, "This is probably the first really good portrait engraved by an American-born professional engraver."Stauffer. v. 1, pp. 271-272. Stauffer correctly gives the date of this famous portrait as April, 1795.Stauffer, v. 1, p. xxvii. The date April, 1796, given elsewhere, is an error.Stauffer, v. 1, pp. 271, 272. In August, 1796, Tiebout returned to New York, and in that year the firm of Cornelius and Alexander Tiebout (not Andrew Tiebout, as found in some sources) published an engraving of a painting by West.Stauffer, v. 2, pp. 526-527.
According to many accounts, the purpose of Tiebout's three years in London was to study stipple engraving under James Heath.Tiebout and Morrell, p. 30. However, there appears to be no mention of Tiebout in published works about Heath or Tiebout's six London-based engravings. Regarding Tiebout's craftsmanship, Donald O'Brien writes that young Tiebout's work in Josephus is much better than that of the well-established American engraver Amos Doolittle, and that "a cursory examination divulges that Tiebout was a superior craftsman even before studying in London."Donald C. O'Brien, Amos Doolittle, Engraver of the New Republic, New Castle, Delaware, for The American Historical Print Collectors Society, Farmingdale, New York, 2008, p. 41.
The diary of Alexander Anderson provides insights into the lives of his friends Alexander and Cornelius Tiebout. For example, Anderson wrote on 17 October 1794 that he "Stopp't at A. Tiebout's shop and saw 3 engravings done by his brother Cornelius in England." An entry in February 1799 notes that Cornelius was courting Esther Young, daughter of Isaac Young and niece of Thomas Young. Cornelius and Esther were married on 20 April 1799. They named their first child Joseph Young Tiebout after Dr. Joseph Young, another of Esther's uncles.Jane R. Pomeroy, Alexander Anderson's New York City Diary 1793 to 1799 (two volumes), Oak Knoll Press, American Antiquarian Society, 2014, v. 1, pp. 126-127.
The year of Tiebout's move from New York to Philadelphia is stated as 1799 in some accounts. It seems likely, however, that the move took place in 1800, as Tiebout sent, from New York, a letter to Mathew Carey, dated 17 December 1799.Pennsylvania Historical Society, Lea & Febiger Records, Box 16. Genealogical records show that the Tiebouts' son Joseph was baptized on 4 March 1800 in Philadelphia.
Tiebout was among the most active engravers in Philadelphia during his residence there. During 1817-1824, he was a member of the banknote firm of Tanner, Kearney, and Tiebout, located at 10 Library Street, Philadelphia.Gross and Wallace, p. 619. The firm featured an invention by Henry J. Tanner (brother of engraver Benjamin Tanner), designed to prevent counterfeiting.The Nashville Whig, and Tennessee Adviser, front page, 9 May 1818. Tiebout "is said to have made considerable money in his business, but he lost most of it in some disastrous speculation…"Mantle Fielding's Dictionary of American Painters, Sculptors and Engravers, compiled and published by J. F. Carr, New York, 1965, p. 368.
It has been widely published that Tiebout moved to Kentucky and died there.Cornelius Henry Tiebout and Francis V. Morrell, The Ancestry and Posterity of Cornelius Henry Tiebout of Brooklyn, printed for private distribution, 1910, p. 30.Stauffer, v. 2, p. 272. Instead, Tiebout, with daughter Caroline, 23, and son Henry, 5, arrived in New Harmony, Indiana, in October, 1826, and resided there until Tiebout's death.William Maclure to Reuben Haines, 25 October 1826, Wyck Collection, American Philosophical Society, Box 19, Folder 239. In New Harmony, Tiebout taught in William Maclure's School of Industry and engraved illustrations for Thomas Say's American Entomology, a project which he had begun when both he and Say lived in Philadelphia. Tiebout was still engraving illustrations for Say's American Conchology when he became too ill to continue.William Maclure and Marie Duclos Fretageot, Partnership for Posterity, edited by Josephine Mirabella Elliott, Indianapolis Historical Society, Indianapolis, 1994, pages 368, 379, 404, 446, 473, 481, 493, 518, 519, 537, 543, 547, 551, 574, 582, 590, 591, 605, 607, 618, 633, 784, 787, 846, 907, 912, 723, and 962. According to records in The Working Men's Institute in New Harmony, Cornelius Tiebout died on 24 February 1832 and was buried on the property of George Woods in a graveyard that no longer exists.Darlene McConnell, Posey County Burials, Windmill Publications, Mt. Vernon, Indiana, 1996, p. 151; also, family records for surnames Tiebout, Woods, and others, Workingmen's Institute, New Harmony, Indiana. According to a record in the Posey County, Indiana, Courthouse, dated 29 March 1832, Tiebout's son-in-law, Simon W. Kellogg, was administrator of Tiebout's estate, with Thomas Say as co-signer.Posey County [Indiana] Order Book Probate, Books C and D, Feb. 1828-May, 1834, p. 239.
Works Tiebout's works are held in multiple American museum collections, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, as well as the Royal Collection Trust in the United Kingdom.
His best-known engravings include portraits of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and John Adams, as well as an engraving of the then-New York City Hall, and the USS Constitution capturing the Guerriere. However, as is true about many American copperplate engravers, most of Tiebout's engravings appeared in American editions of books previously published in London during the first three decades after the War for Independence. A selection of these follows.
The Works of Josephus. (mentioned above). The New York 1792 edition followed a London edition published three years earlier. Both editions included 60 engravings. The copper plates used in London were not used in New York. Instead, American engravers made new plates. Most of the London engravings included names of artists, but these were omitted in American editions. Such omissions—in many books—went hand-in-hand with the development of Americanism, and may also have avoided copyright issues. Regarding the 60 illustrations, in 2023, a librarian identified most of the artists in the London edition, hence also the American.Jenny Ruthven, University of Southampton, in Cornelius Tiebout Engravings: Part 5. To summarize, it seems likely that Tiebout and other American engravers were instructed to show only their own names on their works.