Portrait of Ebenezer Coffin

ca. 1714-30, ATTRIBUTED TO NEHEMIAH PARTRIDGE, (1683-before 1737), Massachusetts, probably Boston.  B.63.75

This portrait descended in the Coffin family of Nantucket, one of the original founding families of this Massachusetts shipping island. Bewigged sitter assumes the posture of an English gentleman, with his left hand positioned on his hip near his sword and his right hand clutching a letter that may refer to his shipping business, which is likewise alluded to by the sloop in the background.

Portrait of John Gerry

1745, JOSEPH BADGER (1708-1765), Boston, B.53,13

Miss Hogg began acquiring colonial American paintings more than 30 years after she started her collection of decorative arts. Portrait of John Gerry by Joseph Badger is her first acquisition in this area. The Gerrys were a prominent family living in a grand 3-story house in Marblehead, Massachusetts. John's father was a sea captain and merchant. John served as naval officer during the Revolution. John was oldest surviving child (heir). Stands in fictitious classical setting. Bird he holds and his gesture of pointing down at ground are stock conventions in Baroque paintings which Badger could have borrowed from mezzotint engravings of aristicrats. Sitter is 3 yrs, 8 mos, but wears the costume of a gentleman, in keeping with portrait customs of the times. Badger never attained the brilliance of Robert Feke or Copley. Bayou Bend owns the body coat John Gerry wears in this portrait.

Portrait of Mrs. John Greenleaf

ca. 1748, JOHN GREENWOOD (1727-1792), Boston, B.59.98

Priscilla Brown Greenleaf. She sits calmly in a window in a simple gown. Greenwood uses Smibert's formulas. Not much is known about the sitter. 

Portrait of Mrs. Samuel McCall, Sr.

1746, ROBERT FEKE (ca. 1707-1751), Philadelphia, B.71.81

Anne McCall. Robert Feke was first major native-born artist of the American colonies. Lived and worked in Newport, Philadelphia, Boston, perhaps Virginia, and Barbados, where he died. Borrowing from the tradition of Baroque aristocratic portraiture, Feke included swags of brightly colored drapery, columns, elegant dresses, and props in his relatively large imposing canvases.His grand portraits of colonial sitters dressed and posed in the guise of English nobility evoke dignity, grace, and a spare elegance. An excellent example of Feke's combination of grandeur and simplicity, the Bayou Bend portrait features a young woman standing erect in front of an Ionic column and beside a swath of crimson drapery and a Rococo marble-topped table on which she rests her hand. The sitter is dressed in a crystal-buttoned, radiant blue silk dress, accentuated at its narrow waist by a tassel belt, and a salmon pink underskirt. She gracefully holds a peony in her left hand, displaying her long, tapering fingers.

Portrait of William Holmes

ca. 1765-67, JOHN WOLLASTON (act. 1742-75), Charleson, B.54.20

Wollaston's Charleston portraits reveal a complexity not seen in his earlier work. They are characterized by greater detail in costume, a Rococo palette, softer edges, and halo effects around the sitters' heads, features apparent in this charming portrait of a young boy dressed in a pink silk wastcoat and buff-colored jacket, standing before a rosy sky and caressing his adoring pet. Willia Holmes was the second son of a prominent Charleston family. William Holmes portrait looks more romantic, more French than English.

Portrait of Mary Pemberton

1734, JOHN SMIBERT, (1688-1751), Boston, B.72.8

Smibert showed a great deal of attention and care lavished on the portrait of Samuel, which has considerable charm and verve. Smibert's portrait of Mary is slightly less appealing. She wears a dress Smibert painted ad infinitum, a type likely borrowed from mezzotints. Not much is known about Mary. A lot of times subjects were not present when their portraits were painted.

Portrait of Samuel Pemberton

1734, JOHN SMIBERT, (1688-1751), Boston,B.72.7

As the heir to family fortune, the son held a privileged place within the 18th c. family. In the case of the Pembertons, Bostonians whose wealth derived from merchant trade and real estate, Samuel (1723-1779) was the first child to be painted by Smibert. Several months later, Smibert painted Samuel's elder sisters Hannah and Mary. The three portraits likely hung together, with Samuel at center, flanked by his sisters on either side. Smibert portrayed Samuel as a bewigged gentleman in a soft gray suit, proudly erect, with an alert expression, his large eyes enhanced by exquisitely rendered eyelashes. Graceful swirls of his wig, braid and buttons of his coat, ruffles of his stock, all point to the great attention to detail. Samuel later went to Harvard and was a member of the Sons of Liberty.

Portrait of Mrs. John Champneys

possibly 1763, JEREMIAH THEUS, (ca. 1719-1774), Charleston, B.60.50

Anne Livingston Champneys. With virtually no competition from other colonial painters until Wollaston's arrival in 1765, Jeremiah Theus dominated the 18th c. art scene in Charleston. Emigrated to Charleston from Switzerland. This portrait demonstrates Theus's modest skill in rendering the shimmering quality of the sitter's silk dress, its bejeweled bodice, the decorative patterns of lace that line the sleeves, the fur of the ermine trim, and the reflective surface of the pearls, all details that derive from mezzotint sources. The rather plain sitter shares facial mannerisms with other Theus sitters:an unusually large, pronounced nose, dimpled chin, and curvilinear, V-shaped lips. Theus typically used monochromatic, dark backgrounds against which the sitter was dramatically lit. Anne Livingston Champneys was married to John Champneys, a Charleston merchant and Loyalist.

Portrait of Anna Lloyd Tilghman

(Mrs. Matthew Tilghman) and Her Daughter,

Anna Maria

c. 1757, JOHN HESSELIUS, Maryland, B.2003.6

Mrs. Tilghman is probably not wearing something she would have worn in real life. Probably based on an English mezzotint of aristocrats. Rich fabrics are a characteristic of Rococo. Looks like the face has been painted and then everything else paited somewhere later.

Portrait of Mrs. Richard Nicholls

1749, JOHN WOLLASTON, (ACT. 1742-75), New York, B.69.344

Margaret Tudor Nicholls. Like John Smibert, English artist John Wollaston became an immediate success in colonial America. Margaret Nicholls is 50 at the time of the sitting. One of Wollaston's earliest portraits after arriving in Charleston in 1749. Margaret was married to Richard Nicholls, a prominent New York attorney, coroner, postmaster and vestryman of the Trinity Church. This painting is among the most appealing and brilliantly painted of the artist's New York smaller format portraits. The sitter, her face partially cast in shadow, is set within a painted oval. A frilly lace cap surrounds her face, a lace fichu covers her chest, and the silky, buff-colored satins of her dress shimmer against the dark background. Wollaston's signature oval, half-lidded eyes, and delicate, upturned mouth are present here, as is his attention to detail in picking out with tiny brush strokes the patterns of crisp lace in cap and fichu and broadly painting the dramatic highlights of the sitter's dress. Wealthy and fashionable New Yorkers thronged to Wollaston's studio.

Portrait of Mrs. Gawen Brown

1763, JOHN SINGLETON COPLEY, (1738-1815), Boston, Pastel on laid paper, B.54.21

Elizabeth Byles Brown. Continental late Baroque and Rococo fashion in the early 1700's included the production of pastel portraits. Copley experimented with pastels, beginning in 1758, surpassing his precursors and colleagues. Despite his facility for working in pastel, he used the medium for only about fourteen years. Benjamine West, Copley's mentor abroad, discouraged him from continuing in the medium, claiming it was inferior to the oil medium. Portrait of Mrs. Gawen Brown is one of approx 55 surviving pastel portraits by Coley. As he did for his oils, Copley borrowed props and poses from Continental and English portrait mezzotints. The feathery quality of the pastel medium endows the work with a soft, ethereal glow. Elizabeth was the daughter of the minister Mather Byles and the wife of Gawen Brown, an esteemed Boston clokmaker. She died the same year Copley produced this portrait.

Portrait of Mrs. Joseph Henshaw

ca. 1770, JOHN SINGLETON COPLEY, (1738-1815), Boston, Pastel on paper mounted on linen, B.54.25

Over the years, Copley's technique in pastel became more sophisticated. The greater availability of ready-made pastel sticks in a vast array of tones allowed the artist to apply and blend strokes of individual shades so that the general effect was one of subtle modulation rather than sharp contrasts between light and dark, as seen in such earlier pastels as Portrait of Mrs. Gawn Brown. This more refined technique, which heightened the plasticity and realism of the sitter's form and props, is demonstrated in the portrait of Mrs. Henshaw, among the last pastels Copley produced.The uncorseted salmon-colored gown trimmed with brilliant white lace and bordered by brown fur, the velvet texture of the pearl-trimmed headdress, and the silvery luster of the necklace appear especially vivid, setting off the creamy quality of the sitter's skin. 

Portrait of a Boy

ca. 1758-60, JOHN SINGLETON COPLEY, (1738-1815), Boston, B.54.31

For almost 25 years, the unrivaled portraitist of the American colonies was John Singleton Copley, a Boston painter. Of humble origins, the son of Irish immigrants and tobacco shopkeepers, Copley rose to fame and fortune, providing spectacular portraits of Boston's largely mercantile and upwardly mobile elite, clergymen, military leaders, and such political figures as Samuel Adams, Paul Revere, and John Hancock. Trained by his stepfather, a mezzotint engraver from London, and self-taught through art books, Copley aspired to be a history painter, considered the highest genre of painting an artist could practice. History painting held little interest for the pre-Revolutionary colonies, so Copley focused his talent on painting "likenesses," producing over 300 portraits before leaving the colonies in 1774. Bold color, dramatic chiaroscuro, and a legendary facility for painting forms convincingly - faces as well as finery - are characteristic features of Copley's portraits throughout his colonial career. Profusion of props is characteristic of works of this period. Identity of boy is not known, but probably the firstborn son and heir of a wealthy and socially ambitious family.

Portrait of Mrs. Paul Richard

1771, JOHN SINGLETON COPLEY, (1738-1815), New York, B.54.18

Elizabeth Garland Richard. In his portraits, Copley often posed older women seated in damask-upholstered armchairs, wearing satins usually in a warm brown, with a mob-cap and transparent black mantle. Mrs. Richard, here 71-years-old, wears a plain apron, a prop that appears in another Copley portrait. She holds a small book, box, or, more likely, playing cards. Elizabeth was the wife of Paul Richard, a wealthy importer and mayor of New York from 1735 to 1739. She was a prominent woman. She was born in 1700 in London, the only daughter and heiress of Thomas Garland. She moved the colonies shortly before her marriage around 1722. She never had children. In his later works, Copley relinquishes the exuberance of his earlier works, preferring to portray sitters emerging from dark, monochromatic backgrounds with greater value contrasts and more somber tones, which tends to heighten the psychological presentation of the sitter.

Portrait of Dr. Mason Fitch Cogswell

1791, RALPH EARL, (1751-1801), Hartford, B.76.184

Mason Fitch Cogswell was practicing in New York when Ralph Earl was in debtor's prison. The doctor arranged for the artist's release in 1788 and, through his family connections in Connecticut, provided Earl with numerous new patrons. Earl painted Cogswell in Hartford in 1791 in exchange for medical attention. The fashionably dressed doctor is seated in a Windsor chair with a green fabric-covered writing arm, His attentive spaniel looks for affection. Posed before a crimson draperies and an array of medical books. Surrounded by his own things, not props. He's proud. Shows the spirit of the age. Earl was an ardent Loyalists and fled to London in 1778 following the Revolution, leaving his wife and children behind. Studied under Benjamin West. Returned to the U.S. in 1785 but was soon in debtors prison after hard drinking and debts. Earl was influenced by John Singleton Copley.

Boy with Toy Horse

1768, CHARLES WILLSON PEALE, (1741-1827), London, B.55.15

Peale was a saddler from Annapolis, Maryland, turned artist who became one of the ost prominent artists of his day. Was also inventor, scientist, founder of a public museum. His younger brother, James Peale, and son, Rembrandt Peale, were also artists. This portrait is one of only a few Peale completed during a 2-year stint in London with Benjamin West.A young child in pink, turned slightly to engage viewer, stands in an interior setting that includes a patterned carpet, Chippendale side chair, fireplace with glowing embers, and two portraits hanging on wall, including a duplicate of this painting. Until 1987 was A Portrait of a Girl, exhibited as such in 1768, but now believed to be a boy because of the toy horse and sitter doesn't wear a girl's cap. However, some think painting was a challenge to John Singleton Copley, his closest rival in the colonies. The year before, Copley had exhibited Young Lady with a Bird and Dog, which had been severely criticized.

Self-Portrait with Angelica and Portrait of Rachel

ca. 1782-85, CHARLES WILLSON PEALE, (1741-1827), Philadelphia, B.60.49

Peale painted several self-portraits throughout his career, but the Bayou Bend one is the most complex and revealing statements about his art and it close reltionship to domesticity, family and the educational role of art.Sitting in Windsor chair, Angelica playfully appears to guide brush. Rachel Peale peers out of the painted canvas as lifelike as the sitters. 

Portrait of John Vaughn

ca. 1795, GILBERT STUART, (1755-1828, Philadelphia, B.61.55

Stuart rose to great prominence as a portraitist of post-Revolutionary America and image maker of its first president, George Washington. Stuart was from Newport, RI, then went to London during Revolution. Studied with Benjamin West. Returned to U.S. in 1793. Painted more than 100 portraits of Washington and sold to other people. Often used small canvas. Paintings reveal likeness and personality. Stuart would talk to his subjects, even during sittings. Dashing portrait features the young Vaughan with powdered hair tied back in a bow, its ust falling on the back of his blue coat with brown velvet collar and brass buttons.Lush reddish-black background sets off Vaughn's brilliant white stock, testimony to Stuart's keen use of dramatic color and light. Vaughn's long life and career epitomized the Enlightenment ideals in federal America of human progress and development. Was supporter of arts & sciences, was a successful merchant and importer of French wine.

Portrait of Mrs. John Trumbull

1820-1823, JOHN TRUMBULL, (1756-1843, New York, B.91.25

Sarah Hope Harvey Tumbull. John Trumbull was one of the most important artists and cultural figures in American history. Born with aristocratic roots in Connecticut, graduated from Harvard, rose to rank of colonel in Revolutionary War, and moved to Boston during the war to embark on painting career. Advised by John Singleton Copley and Benjamin West. Jailed in London for anti-English sentiments. Knew Washington personally. Wanted to record the events of the Revolution. Received commission to paint four of the eight paintings in the Capitol Rotunda that commemorate the Revolutionary War. Sarah was almost 50 in this portrait. Trumbull painted Sarah at least 13 times. 

Portrait of a Boy

ca. 1711-1716, ATTRIBUTED TO THE PIERPONT LIMNER, New England or possibly New York, B.62.39

This is the earliest painting in the collection. Sitter is not known. Artist is not definitively known. The history of art producced in England's North American colonies before the 1729 arrival of John Smibert largely concerns itinerant and anonymous portrait painters, called limners to distinguish them from house painters and painters of coaches and signs. Artists are often given a name associated with specific portraits in which the sitter has been identified, and paintings that share stylistic and technical similarities are ascribed to this artist. Thus, this artist has been attributed to the Pierpont Limner, identified by portraits of the Rev. James Pierpont and his wife (Yale University Art Gallery). The painted oval is popular in England at this time.