An illustration by A. I. Keller from the 1901 edition of Amos Judd by John Ames Mitchell

Publisher, architect, artist, novelist, mystic, mystery: John Ames Mitchell (1844-1918) was a Renaissance man who kept to himself but influenced many. A Harvard educated architect who studied at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris Mr. École des Beaux-Arts ("School of Fine Arts" refers to a number of influential Art schools in France. Paris (ˈpærɨs in English; in French) is the Capital of France and the country's largest city Mitchell founded the original Life magazine in 1883. Much more like today's New Yorker than the Life of the later 20th Century, Mitchell's magazine discovered and encouraged many fine writers and artists at the turn of the 20th Century, such as Charles Dana Gibson, the illustrator who created the Gibson Girl. Charles Dana Gibson ( September 14, 1867 &ndash December 23, 1944) was an American graphic artist noted for his creation of the " The Gibson Girl was the personification of the feminine ideal as portrayed in the satirical pen and ink illustrated stories created by Illustrator Charles Dana Gibson It covered the literary scene as well as political and social issues. He and Horace Greeley of The New York Herald Tribune founded the Fresh Air Fund, which for many years operated the Life Fresh Air camp for city kids on the site of today's Branchville School in Ridgefield, Connecticut, the town in which Mitchell also lived. Horace Greeley ( February 3, 1811 &ndash November 29, 1872) was an American editor of a leading newspaper, a founder The New York Herald Tribune was a daily newspaper created in 1924 when the New York Tribune acquired the New York Herald. The Fresh Air Fund is an independent not-for-profit agency that provides free summer vacations to New York City Children from low-income communities Ridgefield is a town in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States.

Mitchell penned a half dozen novels, the most famous of which, Amos Judd (1895), was made into the 1922 silent film, The Young Rajah, starring Rudolph Valentino. The Young Rajah is a 1922 Silent film starring Rudolph Valentino. Rudolph Valentino ( May 6, 1895 &ndash August 23, 1926) was an Italian Actor, Sex symbol, and early Life was purchased in 1936 by another Ridgefield resident, Henry Luce, who turned it into a picture-oriented magazine. Henry Robinson Luce ( April 3, 1898 &ndash February 28, 1967) was an influential American publisher The headquarters of Mitchell's Life is now The Herald Square Hotel in New York, a gift to Mitchell from Charles Dana Gibson in appreciation of the publisher’s having seen and developed his potential as an artist. Charles Dana Gibson ( September 14, 1867 &ndash December 23, 1944) was an American graphic artist noted for his creation of the "

Mitchell died in 1918 and is buried in Ridgefield Cemetery. Windover, his estate, was subdivided years ago, but the main house is still on West Lane. Its owner also operates The Herald Square Hotel, once Mitchell's Life headquarters. ^[1]

External links

• Works by John Ames Mitchell at Project Gutenberg

Footnotes

1. ^ Notable Ridgefielders