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Portrait 2016-118
Portrait of the Jennison Children
Portrait 2016-118

Portrait of the Jennison Children

Date1836
Artist Jefferson Gauntt
OriginAmerica, New York, New York City, Brooklyn
MediumOil on canvas
DimensionsOverall: 63 x 68 3/4in. (160 x 174.6cm)
Credit LineGift of John Newsome Jr.
Object number2016-118,A&B
DescriptionA group of eight children in an outdoor setting. The five oldest children are in dark clothing while the three youngest appear in yellow and white. In the middle of the composition a young boy holds his left hand up to show off a butterfly. The two children in front of him are caring for a group of chickens while the two boys on the right appear to have been playing a game of hoop and stick. The oldest daughter, seated on the left, holds the youngest child, who is clutching a bird in her lap and one of her brothers stands beside her with his arm around her shoulders.
Label TextThe striking unity of this large and complex family portrait speaks to the talent of artist Jefferson Gauntt, and perhaps to the close connections between the sibling subjects. Every child is depicted physically connected to or overlapping another. They were the eight children of William Jennison and Marie Antoinette Jennison. William was a prosperous merchant who brought his family from Baton Rouge, Louisiana, to Brooklyn, New York, by 1832.

Less than a year after this portrait was completed, Melinda Anna, the girl in the yellow dress, died. Her brother Charles (the boy with the hoop on the far right) became a successful merchant. It was through his family that the portrait descended to the donor.

Gauntt was an artist with academic aspirations. His work was exhibited at the Philadelphia Academy of Fine Arts and the National Academy of Design in New York City. Despite his formal training, Gauntt’s composition exhibits a slight awkwardness in execution, but that does not diminish the warmth and appeal of the Jennison children and their pet birds.

InscribedInscribed in lower right corner, "Painted by J. Gauntt"
ProvenanceWilliam Jennison (1794-1866) who retired and died in Philadelphia, to his son William (1826-1866) and/or daughter Maria Antoinette Jennison (1833-1902) in Philadelphia, to Charles Ewer Jennison (1830-1915) of Bay City, Michigan, to his son William Fowler Jennison (1865-1935), to his daughter Julia Wight Jennison Lewis (b. 1913), to her daughter Jennifer Lewis Newsome (b. 1931), the late wife of donor John Newsome Jr.
Exhibition(s)