A portraitist active in New York in the 1850s and 60s, Jacob Hart Lazarus painted quite a few of the subjects in this archive as well as this self-portrait. He was the son of Zipporah Hart and Eleazer Samuel Lazarus, one of eight children. He was raised in New York and studied with the famous portraitist Henry Inman and at the school of the National Academy of Design in the early 1840s. In 1851 married Amelia Barned Tobias, daughter of Rebecca Levy and Tobias Tobias. Lazarus painted both of their portraits along with that of Amelia’s brother Isaac and his wife Hermione as well as his own brother Samuel. He was elected an associate member of the academy, and he regularly exhibited in the academy’s annual exhibitions. In addition to his portraits, Lazarus also painted miniatures, historical subjects and scenes from Shakespeare and Washington Irving.