Born in Rotterdam on August 29,1820, Johan Mengels Culverhouse was one of six children of R. Culverhouse and C. Mengels. Culverhouse made a name for himself as a "candlelight painter," specializing in nocturnal scenes illuminated by moonlight or candlelight in the tradition of seventeenth-century Dutch painting. In the same tradition he also painted genre subjects, including rowdy taverns, busy markets, and bustling streets. It is sometimes said that Culverhouse studied at the Dusseldorf Academy, but this is unlikely as his name does not appear on its rolls. According to Pieter A. Scheen, Culverhouse lived and worked in Rotterdam until 1845 and The Hague in 1846. He exhibited at Groningen in 1845 and Rot-terdam in 1846 before coming to the United States. The year of his arrival is not known. Culverhouse’s life in America is documented mainly by exhibition records and his work.

He exhibited at the American Academy of the Fine Arts in 1849, the Boston Athenaeum and the New Jersey Art-Union in 1851, and the National Academy of Design and the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in 1852. The American Art-Union in New York acquired and exhibited seven of his paintings in 1849 and distributed them to its subscribers. It sold six more at public auction in 1852 when it was disbanded as an illegal lottery.

Culverhouse apparently returned to Europe in the late 1850s. He exhibited at the Paris Salons of 1857, 1859, 1861, 1863, and 1864, giving a Paris address. According to Scheen, he exhibited in Antwerp in 1861 and in Amsterdam the following year. By the mid-1860s Culverhouse was back in America. He exhibited at the National Academy of Design in 1865 and 1866, giving a New York address, and at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in 1867. By December 1871 he had settled in Syracuse, New York. Notes from a variety of sources in the collection of the Onondaga Historical Association provide a brief record of his stay there. The Syracuse Journal for December 12,1871, reported that he opened a studio in Judson N. Knapp’s art gallery and frame store at 47 Genesee Street. The building is shown in Culverhouse’s painting of Syracuse by moonlight, now titled "Clinton Square – 1871" (Onondaga Historical Association, Syracuse). According to the city directory for 1872, Culverhouse was boarding at the St. Charles Hotel.

Several of Culverhouse’s paintings were shown in the fall exhibition of the Brooklyn Art Association in 1877 and one in the spring of the following year. Although he is said to have died about 1889, the date and place of his death are not known. Judging by his sporadic exhibition record, Culverhouse led a peripatetic life. Perhaps, as has been suggested, he returned to Europe several times. Although he tried to accommodate the American market by painting local scenes, he remained a firm adherent to Dutch traditions. His choice of subjects and the style of his known paintings reflect this European background.

Exhibited:

·           National Academy of Design

·           American Art – Union

·           Boston Athenaeum

·           Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Art

·           Museums:

·           Metropolitan Museum of Art, New

·           York City

·           Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, New York