John Heyl Raser was born in Mobile, Alabama, but is associated most closely with Pennsylvania. An inquisitive and intellectual student, Raser moved to Reading in 1851 where he opened two successful drug stores; painting was his avocation.

In 1871 he sold his stores to devote his time to painting. Initially he painted portraits, but he later painted marine scenes, still lifes, and landscapes, for which he is best known. In 1874 he traveled to Europe and by 1884 he had opened a studio in Philadelphia. He was a member of the Art Exhibition Gallery and the Philadelphia Art Club and exhibited at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts.

Raser's most commanding landscapes are his expansive river views of Pennsylvania, northern New York, and the Northeast, which are breathtaking in technique and composition and are reminiscent of the grand panoramas of the Hudson River School.

Raser painted in the Catskills at Haines Falls and Pine Hill Valley; along the Schuylkill River; and in the Connecticut River Valley and points further east. He was a colleague of landscapist Frank Devlan and teacher of the painter Christopher Shearer. He died in Williamsport, Pennsylvania in 1901, and his works are in the collections of the Historical Society of Berks County and the Reading Museum.

c Roger King Fine Art

The following biography has been provided by Valerie Malmberg, Greshville Antiques and Fine Art.

John Heyl Raser was born in Mobile, Alabama in 1824. At an early age, he took an interest in education, expanding his studies in such areas as art, science, and music. Raser came to Reading, PA in 1851 and by 1871 was producing portraits, landscapes, and still life paintings. He visited Europe in 1875 and sketched the beautiful foreign countryside. He then opened a studio in Philadelphia in 1884, and continued painting until his death in 1901. He was a member of the Art Exhibition Gallery and the Philadelphia Art Club.