Portrait of Leroy Settle
Date1837
Attributed to
Washington Cooper
MediumOil on canvas
DimensionsFramed: OH: 38" OW: 33 1/2"
Credit LineMuseum Purchase, Mr. and Mrs. Thomas L. Caviness, Jr.
Object number2019-53,A&B
DescriptionPortrait of a man in a black coat, waistcoat and stock over a white shirt. He is seated in a red, upholstered side chair with his left arm resting on the back of the chair.The painting retains its original gilt frame.
Label TextLeroy B. Settle was born in Culpeper County, Virginia in 1793 to Joel Lafayette Settle and his wife, Sarah Burgess. He married Margery Wilson Greer in 1837 and together the couple had six children.
Leroy was a successful businessman having operated a mercantile business for over 20 years. Prior to his marriage to Margery he worked primarily in Gainesboro, Jackson Co. He was partner with S.E. Stone in the establishment Samuel E. Stone & Co. from 1833 until its dissolution in 1839. He had also sold goods with Andrew Whitley beginning in February 1828, as part of the firm of Settle Whitley & Smith. Settle relocated to Lebanon at the time of his 1837 marriage to Margery Greer and though he would "come to court and look after old buisness" in Gainesboro, most of his efforts centered around Lebanon after 1837.
In Lebanon, Settle was a principal in the development of the Tennessee Manufacturing Company which in 1846 had 2000 spindles, 21 carding machines and 30 power looms in use producing 1000 yards of cloth daily, chiefly jeans and linseys. Settle was also part owner in a hemp factory in town.
Leroy and Margery Settle had their portraits painted by Washington Bogart Cooper in 1837, likely around the time of their marriage. Cooper was born in Washington County, Tennessee in 1802. As a boy he had an interest in art and would sketch people and animals with chalk and charcoal on fences and barn doors. Family tradition claims that he may have received some instruction for a brief time in Murfreesboro but many scholars believe that he was self-taught. His brother, William Cooper, later claimed that Washington had traveled to Philadelphia in 1830 and studied with Thomas Sully and Henry Inman. By 1832, Cooper had returned to Tennessee. He advertised first in Murfreesboro and before establishing a studio in Nashville over Mrs. Barry's millinery shop.
ca. 1835
ca. 1830
