Marcus Mote

American, 1817 - 1898

(not assigned)Richmond, Indiana, USA

(not assigned)Waynesville, Ohio, USA

SchoolPortraiture

BiographyMarcus Mote, son of David and Miriam Mendenhall Mote, was born June 19, 1817 near West Milton, Ohio. Marcus was a fifth generation birthright American Quaker. His parents were members of West Branch Monthly Meeting of The Religious Society of Friends.
Mote moved to the Waynesville, Ohio area in the late 1830s. He taught at the Turtle Creek School in Warren County, Ohio, just southeast of Waynesville in 1836 and 1837. At that time, he attended Quarterly Meeting in Waynesville (Miami Monthly Meeting) where at one time he was clerk of the Meeting. Miami meeting members protested his art work. Quakers at that time were traditionally not schooled in the fine arts. Such interest and vocations were considered "worldly" and "frivolous" and were not accepted by the religious group which advocated plainness in all aspects of daily life. Mote's talents and art work almost got him disowned by the Meeting.
Mile teaching at Turtle Creek School, Mote was taken with Rhoda Steddan, one of his students, also a fifth generation birthright American Quaker. Marcus and Rhoda were married November 11, 1837 at the Orthodox Friends Meeting House at Waynesville (the Red Brick) before moving to West Milton where the first of their children were born.
The couple returned to the Waynesville area with their family a few years later. They resided in a two story brick home on the old Middletown Road near Turtle Creek Friends Meeting House in a neighborhood settled by Rhoda's family. The house was standing in 1989 was owned by James Thornbury. Marcus planned to use an unfinished room in the home for his studio and may have for a short period. However, most of his work centered in Lebanon, Ohio, Warren County seat, where he frequently painted portraits at The Golden Lamb Inn. He also painted in the surrounding villages while keeping Lebanon as a base for his artistic work.Marcus found it difficult to collect debts. His portrait work was not popular with the public at first. He turned to other work to make a living. Mote decorated stagecoaches for the H.T. Reeks Omnibus Company at Waynesville.
He also drew plans for buildings, made maps for Quaker Meetings in Ohio and Indiana, designed election posters and drew advertising pictures of plows, carriages and furniture for various businesses.
Mote's work included pen and pencil, water color and finally oil. He worked in lithography and did daguerreotypes and specialized in "post mortem photographs" from which he frequently painted portraits. His Lebanon, Ohio studio was in a small brick building adjacent the old Court House on Broadway Street across from The Golden Lamb Inn. Lebanon's municipal Town Hall in 1989 occupies the site of the old Court House and Mote's brick studio is gone. At the studio, his first, he taught a small group of girls. This was in the 1850s.
Marcus and Rhoda Mote moved their family from Waynesville to Richmond, Indiana December 26, 1866. They transferred their Quaker meeting certificates (Certificates of Removal) to Whitewater Friends Meeting. At Richmond, Mote opened an Academy of Design and continued painting portraits.
Mote's technique began to diminish along with his touch after his move to Richmond. His students often assisted with his later paintings leaving little of his own talent visible.
Mote reopened his Lebanon, Ohio studio in May 1868. During his time in Warren County he painted at Waynesville, Lebanon, Springboro, Cincinnati, Miamisburg and Richmond, Indiana. He painted from 1837 until circa 1892. He painted hundreds of works including floral and fruit still life, landscapes, Biblical scenes and large "Panoramas". His most prolific period seemed to be from 1859 to 1867.
He borrowed from such subjects as "Paradise Lost" for his large panoramas which were executed during the mid to late 1850s. The panoramas were always featured at Waynesville at the village Opera House. They were also shown in Lebanon at the Town Hall and city churches.
Mote was formally uneducated in the fine arts and had no lengthy studies or experience with other artists since itinerant artists didn't stop at Quaker homes. Quakers discouraged fine art since it was considered too "worldly" and a "mischief". In his youth, Mote worked with colors made from clay, charred wood, natural materials from the nearby woods and bluing from his mother's washtubs. He also made his own brushes made out of hair from a squirrel's tail.
He did give brief instruction to the nationally recognized Quaker artist/sculptor, Eli Harvey. As a young man, Harvey attended one of Mote's lecture seminars at Wilmington, Ohio. Harvey was one of very few of Mote's students who became a professional artist.
Mote's family, especially his Quaker mother, discouraged and ignored his talents but this didn't squelch his deep passion and desire to paint.
As he became more popular and made money, even the most staid and steadfast
Quakers sat for their portraits. Quaker subjects are easily identified by the plain, unadorned style of dress that was popular with them until after the Civil War. The Quaker plain gray, brown, black and white held with elderly Friends until 1876 or after. Quakers eventually adopted the Victorian modes of dress but without jewelry or luxurious ornament.
Mote painted the local gentry as well as some famous Warren County, Ohio visitors. In November, 1843, he painted two portraits of United States President, John Quincy Adams at The Golden Lamb Inn. Adams sat for the portraits while visiting Lebanon when he came "west" to dedicate The Cincinnati Observatory for Ormsby Mitchel, November 5, 1843.
Mote's early works were always signed "M. Mote Artist". These are his best works, according to authorities. They were unaffected by his distraction brought on by teaching.
One of the catalogues of his paintings in the Warren County Historical Society Museum in Lebanon, Ohio is marked: "Lydia A. McGindley's brother Waynesville-$35.50". Another dated 1863 simply states to check who he painted in Lebanon Masonic Lodge. Mote did several portraits of Ohio Governor, Thomas Corwin. He also painted a neighbor's "cow" in comparison. Often, he was only paid from $8.00 to $15.00 per painting.
Mote's portraits are flat in appearance. Probably due to the lack of professional training. He also had a photography business in Lebanon prior to his move to Richmond, Indiana and this could account for some of the flatness since he may have worked from photographs in some instances.
Mote's landscapes are somber and somewhat dreary. They reflect a primitive sort of technique coupled with Quaker simplicity. His early assistants at the Academy in Richmond, Ind. were always women. He didn't always get along with these assistants who often provided the balance of finishing work in his later paintings. Marcus Mote died February 26, 1898 at Richmond, Indiana. (Source: Dennis Dalton, "Marcus Mote: Quaker Artist," published on the Western Shaker Study Group's website, , Accessed July 7, 2004)

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