Joseph Rusling Meeker: The Soul of the Louisiana Bayou The American landscape painter Joseph Rusling Meeker, born in Newark, New Jersey, in 1827 and passing away in St. Louis, Missouri, in 1889, remains a captivating figure within the broader narrative of 19th-century American art. While not a native of Louisiana, his artistic legacy is inextricably linked to the state’s unique and evocative bayou landscapes – a connection forged during his service as a Union Navy paymaster along the Mississippi River during the Civil War. Meeker didn't simply paint what he saw; he captured an atmosphere, a…