John Neal (1793 - 1876) the Portland, Maine, born writer, boxer, editor, lawyer and social critic, took to the road as an itinerant artist in his teens. In Baltimore he read for the law, wrote poetry and novels and then visited England where he wrote the first criticism of American art in English magazines. He returned to Portland in 1827 met artist Charles Codman, began The Yankee (a noted Literary journal) and kicked off a cultural flowering in Maine. Through the Maine Charitable Mechanic Association, Neal initiated the first local art exhibit and catalogue and never stopped discovering and promoting Mainers in local and national publications. Though James R. Lowell's "A Fable for Critics" chided Neal for having "wasted in Maine/The sinews and cords of his pugilist brain", his influence was felt by the likes of Poe, Hawthorne and Rembrant Peale.