Christopher High Shearer (1840-1926)
A partially schooled farm boy, Christopher Shearer was born in Berks County (Reading), Pennsylvania in 1840 and died there in 1926. At the age of eighteen he began the serious study of art with Reading painters F.D. Devlan and J. H. Raser, and had developed a recognized reputation by the age of twenty-seven. Ten years later he traveled to Germany and Paris to spend two years continuing his artistic studies. In 1891 he returned to study in Philadelphia, and in 1893 he opened a studio and school in Reading.
Shearer is known for his large landscapes of Pennsylvania subjects, but also painted still lifes, self-portraits and numerous watercolors. His works were widely exhibited and collected in New York, Boston and Philadelphia.