Portrait of Samuel Carr (1746-1777)

Date1774

Artist John Durand (active 1760-1782)

OriginAmerica, Virginia, Suffolk (probably)

MediumOil on canvas

DimensionsUnframed: 30 1/4" x 25" and Framed: 31 1/8" x 26"

Credit LineMuseum Purchase

Object number1978-81,A&B

DescriptionA half-length portrait of a man turned one-quarter to the viewer's right. His near arm hangs downward and extends out of the picture plane, the hand not shown. The fingers of his far hand are thrust beneath his partially unbuttoned yellow waistcoat. Both waistcoat and his unbuttoned dark blue coat have dull, grey (probably pewter) buttons. He wars a white shirt with sleeves gathered into plain, narrow cuffs, also a white neck cloth. His dark hair is chin-length in back, shorter on the sides. The background is a plain brown and ranges tonally from dark at the sides and top to greatly lightened around the sitter's face.
The 13/16-inch cyma recta molded black-painted frame may have been made for this picture but is believed to be a replacement that dates to about 1830-1850. See furniture conservator Chris Swan's report of 8/10/2011 regarding its age. Also see the "Description" for 1978-82 regarding microscopic analysis of the wood of the frame of the companion portrait.
Label TextColonial Williamsburg's companion portraits of Samuel and Elizabeth Carr typify Durand's most straightforward compositions. Their half-length formats, space-filling images, and plain backgrounds combine with the sitters' direct, level gazes to create a forthright, pared down look that would have been quite modish at the time. Philosophically, it also expressed the sentiments of growing numbers of colonists who favored substance over show. The simple, narrow moldings of the original frames contribute to an overall effect of tasteful restraint.
The Carrs married in 1768. Samuel Carr possessed "Dunlora" and "Bear Castle" plantations in, respectively, Albemarle and Louisa counties, Virginia. He was a captain in the marines at the time of his death, which service in the Revolutionary War may have precipitated. Elizabeth Riddick Carr (1741-1793) descended from an established Nansemond County family. Ten years after Samuel's death, she married the widower of her sister Theresa, Col. Robert Moore Riddick (1744-1804).

InscribedA painted inscription on the back of the lining canvas presumably was added by an earlier conservator to replicate an original inscription on the primary support: "Samuel Carr/aged 28 A.D. 1774/John Durand painter [or painted]." N. B. The last letter of the last word is obscured in the documentation slide of the back of the picture, and two conservators transcribed the word in two different ways.
MarkingsA press-printed, rectangular, water-adhesive label with perforated sides is adhered on the back of the top member of the frame; it reads "No. 38777/FRAME," the numbers in red and the letters in black. The origin of the label has not yet been determined.
ProvenanceFrom the sitter to his widow, Mrs. Samuel Carr (Elizabeth Riddick)(1741-1793); to her daughter (by a second husband), Mrs. Joseph L. Prentis, Jr. (Susan Caroline Riddick)(1791-1862); to her daughter, Mrs. Robert Henning Webb (Margaret Susan Prentis)(1810-1882); to her son, Joseph Prentis Webb (1843-1892); to his widow, Mrs. Joseph Prentis Webb (Annie Jordan Darden)(1858-1945) of Suffolk, Va.; to her son, Robert Henning Webb II (1882-?); to his widow, Mrs. Robert Henning Webb II (Blanche Farrington Miller)(1889-?), who was CWF's source. Acquisition negotiations were with Mrs. Blanche M. Webb's son, Joseph Prentis Webb II (b. 1913).