Images(2)

Portrait of Dudley Woodbridge (1747-1823)

Dateca. 1768

Attributed to John Durand (active 1760-1782)

OriginAmerica, Connecticut, New Haven (probably)

MediumOil on canvas

DimensionsUnframed 50"H x 40"W; framed 55"H x 45 1/2"W

Credit LineGift of Catharine and Kevin Broderick

Object number2018-270,A&B

DescriptionPortrait of a standing man wearing a grey jacket and waistcoat with blue pants. In his left hand he holds a book upright on a table and he is using his right hand to gesture toward the viewer.

Label TextBachelor and Connecticut resident, Dudley Woodbridge, a recent graduate of Yale University, had just reached his majority when this portrait was painted, about 1768. He would go on to enjoy careers in several fields, including law and overseas trade, and he was the first postmaster of Norwich, Connecticut. Woodbridge moved to Ohio before the end of the eighteenth century and spent the rest of his life there.

This large and commanding likeness is the work of John Durand, a talented young painter who came to New York City from London in 1766 or 1767. By 1769, he moved to Virginia, where he continued to work until disappearing from the records in 1782. Durand lived and painted in Williamsburg for a time, probably in the Grissell Hay Lodging House. Once part of Abby Aldrich Rockefeller's collection of American art, Durand's portrait was recently reunited with her collections at Colonial Williamsburg.
ProvenancePurchased by Abby Aldrich Rockefeller from Eunice Chambers of Hartsville, SC, on Jan. 20, 1941; from AAR to her daughter Abby Rockefeller "Babs" Mauze June 13, 1947; to her daughter Marilyn Mauze Simpson (Mrs. William K. Simpson) in January 1961; to her husband William K. Simpson in 1976, CWF's source.