FRANKENSTEIN, Godfrey N. (1820-1873), born in Darmstadt, Germany. Brought to the
United States in 1831. His family settled in Cincinnati. Opened his own business when he was 13 years old as a sign painter and when 19 as a portrait painter. In 1841 he became the first president of
the Cincinnati Academy of Arts. He soon became interested in landscape painting, especially the Niagara Falls which he began painting in 1844. After his panorama of Niagara Falls was shown in Philadelphia,
he was named "The Painter of Niagara Falls", in Harpers's new monthly magazine, August 1853.