Eric Pape
Frederich Ludwig Moritz Pape Jr. (October 17, 1870 – November 7, 1938), known as Eric Pape, was an American painter, engraver, sculptor, and illustrator.
Also recorded as Frederick L. Pape
Eric Pape

EricPape1870 · CC BY-SA 4.0
- Name
- Eric Pape
- Birth Name
- Frederich Ludwig Moritz Pape Jr.
- Born
- 17 October 1870
- Birthplace
- San Francisco, California, U.S.
- Died
- 7 November 1938
- Place of death
- New York City, New York, U.S.
- Field
- Painting, illustration, sculpture
- Training
- Emil Carlsen, Jules Joseph Lefebvre, Jean-Léon Gérôme, Benjamin Constant
- Nationality
- United States
- Occupation
- painter · sculptor · illustrator · artist
- Fields
- visual arts · painting · art of sculpture · illustration
- Languages
- English
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Documentary summary
Frederich Ludwig Moritz Pape Jr. (October 17, 1870 – November 7, 1938), known as Eric Pape, was an American painter, engraver, sculptor, and illustrator.
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Documentary evidence
Documentary basis
Authority files
wikidata · Q21664818 · wikipedia · Eric Pape
In this article
Key facts
Key facts
• Name — Eric Pape • Birth Name — Frederich Ludwig Moritz Pape Jr. • Born — 17 October 1870 • Birthplace — San Francisco, California, U.S. • Died — 7 November 1938 • Place of death — New York City, New York, U.S. • Field — Painting, illustration, sculpture • Training — Emil Carlsen, Jules Joseph Lefebvre, Jean-Léon Gérôme, Benjamin Constant • Website — https: ericpape.com/
Early life
Early life
Pape was born in San Francisco, California, on October 17, 1870, to Friederich Ludwig and Maria (Meier) Pape.
Career
Career
• Illustration — Illustration for Henry James' The Turn of the Screw, 1898 In his teens, Pape studied at the San Francisco School of Design under Emil Carlsen. He left the United States in 1888 for France where he studied in Paris at the Ecole des Beaux Arts under Jean-Léon Gérôme, and at the Académie Julian. He also studied with Jules Joseph Lefebvre and Benjamin Constant at their private studios. Pape traveled extensively while in Europe. In 1889, he lived for a year in northern Germany among peasants and created his first large Salon painting, The Young Spinner of Zeven, which was exhibited the following year at the Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts. The painting was awarded a medal at the California Midwinter International Exposition of 1894. Pape enjoyed a rapid rise to fame. In 1890, he traveled to Egypt where he lived and worked for two years. For nine months he lived beside the Great Pyramids and Sphinx, extensively studying and drawing the ancient monuments. Pape also traveled the Nile River and trekked into the Sahara Desert while living in Egypt. His works were exhibited in Paris; in Egypt at the Exposition du Caire; and in Chicago at the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition ("The Site of Ancient Memphis" and "The Great Sphinx by Moonlight"). Pape returned to the United States in 1894 and married illustrator Alice Monroe in Boston, Massachusetts on August 16. They had one son, Moritz Pape. Alice died in 1911. Nine years later, he married Alice Byrne in 1920. Pape taught for one year at the Cowles Art School in Boston. In 1898, he established the Eric Pape School of Art in Boston. Among its many students were N. C. Wyeth. His works continued to be exhibited internationally, and he was afforded the privilege of one-man shows at the Detroit Museum of Art, the Cincinnati Museum of Art, and the Saint Louis Museum of Art. In 1901, Pape was invited to exhibit 97 of his paintings in the Palace of American Archaeology and Ethnology at the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo; he won a medal for the collection. Continuing to rise in fame and popularity, Pape's works were also exhibited at the Society of American Artists, the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, the Art Institute of Chicago, and the National Academy of Design. Although highly prolific in fine arts, Pape also became a successful illustrator. He regularly illustrated articles for magazines, such as Scribner's Magazine, Cosmopolitan, and The Century Magazine, and Woman's World. Pape also illustrated a large number of deluxe edition books, including The Poems of Madison Cawein (1907) in five volumes; Henry James', The Turn of the Screw, (1898); a special two-volume edition of Lew Wallace's The Fair God (1898) which included 272 illustrations. Pape traveled to Mexico for the book's illustrations. Additionally, Pape worked as a stage designer for theatrical productions, most notably for Percy Mackaye's Canterbury Pilgrims, which was performed in honor of President William H. Taft at Gloucester, Massachusetts, in 1909. In 1898, Pape designed the sets for one of the earliest productions of "Trilby". In 1906, Pape designed and released a petition from Massachusetts to the U.S. Congress to preserve the USS Constitution. This illuminated scroll is now on display in the National Museum of the United States Navy in Washington, D.C.. The following year Pape designed a bronze memorial to commemorate the founding of Massachusetts Bay Colony, which was dedicated in 1907 at Gloucester, Massachusetts.
Professional and social organizations
Selected works
Selected works
• The Young Spinner of Zeven • Illustration — Young Spinner of Zeven An original photograph of the artwork found in the studio of Eric Pape after his death • The Great Sphinx by Moonlight • Illustration — Great Sphinx By Moonlight, Oil on canvas, circa 1890 • The Site of Ancient Memphis • Illustration — Site of Ancient Memphis by Eric Pape • The Two Great Eras • Angel with the Book of Life • Illustration — Angel with the Book of Life. Exhibited Munchen International Kunst Anstelling Munich 1897 • The Foaming Surges
Identity
Identity
Eric Pape is recorded as painter, sculptor, illustrator and artist.
Life and career
Dated record
Life and career
The full dated record · 2 entries
1870
Eric Pape was born in 1870 at San Francisco.
1938
Eric Pape died in 1938 at New York City.
Places
Named by the record
Places
Only places the record itself states, plotted where the house gazetteer settles their coordinates. Nothing is inferred from a name or a nationality.
San Francisco.
Birth place
New York City.
Death place
Death and legacy
According to Pape's obituary in The New York Times, he was walking along Eighth Avenue near Fortieth Street in New York City on November 4, 1938, when he collapsed from a heart attack. He was taken to City Hospital on Welfare Island where he remained unconscious until his death three days later. Pape's works are widely held in museum collections including the National Portrait Gallery of the Smithsonian Institution, the Library of Congress, the U.S. Naval Academy Museum in Annapolis, Maryland, the National Portrait Gallery in London and many other locations.
Primary material
Documents and archives
scholarly publication
- Eric Pape, Painter and Illustrator, Brush and Pencil, 1899
Scholarly · Crossref registry · 1899
- Pape, Eric, Benezit Dictionary of Artists, 2011
Scholarly · Crossref registry · 2011
Institutional database
- Wikidata, structured authority record Q21664818: Eric Pape
Scholarly · Wikimedia Foundation
reference work
- “Eric Pape”, English Wikipedia, consulted as further reading
Reputable secondary · Wikipedia
Citations
References
Each reference names the institution holding it, so a reader may go to the document itself.
scholarly publication
Eric Pape, Painter and Illustrator, Brush and Pencil, 1899Crossref registry
Institutional witnessscholarly publication
Pape, Eric, Benezit Dictionary of Artists, 2011Crossref registry
Institutional witnessInstitutional database
Wikidata, structured authority record Q21664818: Eric PapeWikimedia Foundation
Institutional witnessreference work
Secondary witness
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 16 August 2026.
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