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2022.100.4, Portrait
Portrait of Joshua Fry (1850-1860)
2022.100.4, Portrait

Portrait of Joshua Fry (1850-1860)

Date1852-1855
OriginAmerica, Virginia, Madison County
MediumOil on canvas
DimensionsFramed: 32 3/4 × 27 3/4in.
Credit LineGift of Katey Frere, Jenna Goodman and Robert Goodman
Object number2022.100.4
DescriptionPortrait of a young boy seated at the base of a tree. He is wearing a blue shirt with white pants, white socks, and black shoes. In his proper left hand he holds a dead chipmunk. His proper right hand rests upon a white dog with brown ears and a liver colored nose. A straw hat is tipped over in the bottom right corner of the scene. In the background is a mountainous landscape.
Label TextJoshua Fry was born in 1850 to William D. Fry and his wife, Catherine "Kitty" W. Fry of Madison County, Virginia. First cousins, William and Kitty were both descendents of Joshua Fry, an 18th century mathematics professor at the College of William and Mary and surveyor, who along with Peter Jefferson created the well-known Fry-Jefferson map of Virginia. Unfortunately, young Joshua died before age 10 but the portrait remained in family hands until it was donated to Colonial Williamsburg in 2022.
ProvenanceLucy Thomas Fry [1865-1945] (Madison County, VA); By 1945, by inheritence to her daughter Helen L. Fry [1901-1975] (Madison County, VA); 1960s, as a gift to her cousin, Myrle N. Thomas Smith [1904-1996] (Orange, CA); 1996, by inheritence to her daughter, Sarah K. Smith (Katey) Frere; 2022, by donation to the Colonial Williamsburg Fountion (Williamsburg, VA)