Portrait of Clarendon Dix (1779-1811)
Date1793-1797
Attributed to
The Beardsley Limner (active 1785-1805)
MediumOil on canvas
DimensionsUnframed: 35 5/8 x 27 3/8in. (90.5 x 69.5cm) and Framed: 42 x 33 1/4in.
Credit LineFrom the Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Collection; Bequest of David Rockefeller
Object number1992.100.1
DescriptionA three-quarter-length portrait of a boy, seated and turned sideways before a green-draped table bearing an opened music book and a loose sheet of music. In front of him, he holds a transverse flute. He wears a white ruffled shirt, white stockings, a red coat and red waistcoat, and blue knee breeches with buckles. His dark hair is cut with bangs and falls loose to shoulder length. A fringed green drape hangs on a loose diagonal from upper right to lower left behind the boy.Label TextIn this portrait, young Clarendon Dix appears ready to practice his flute with music books at his side. His musical abilities denote the refinement and education characteristic of young men who could afford private lessons with a music master. In Robert Carter’s musical household, tutor Philip Fithian noted that Carter “at dinner gave Ben [Carter’s son] and I a Piece of Music to prepare on our Flutes.” They would perform that music later for family and friends.
After the violin, the flute was the most common musical instrument in the colonies. Many music teachers in Williamsburg offered to instruct young gentlemen in the “German and Common Flutes.”
ProvenanceMrs. Mason Dix Harris, Fitchburg, Mass.; Elizabeth L. Bond, Cambridge, Mass.; Bessie J. Howard, Boston, Mass.; Abby Aldrich Rockefeller, New York, NY; in 1948, inherited by Mr. and Mrs. David Rockefeller. In 1992, the last named gave one tenth interest in the painting to the Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Folk Art Museum.
Exhibition(s)
ca. 1850
1800-1827 (compiled); some 1726
ca. 1800
ca. 1845
1875-1900