Portrait of Peter Lenox (1771-1832)

Dateca. 1820

Artist/Maker Charles Bird King (1785-1862)

OriginAmerica, District of Columbia, Washington

MediumOil on canvas mounted on masonite

DimensionsUnframed: 37" x 28 1/2" and Framed: 44 3/4" x 36 3/4" x 2 1/2"

Credit LineMuseum Purchase

Object number1994-129,A&B

DescriptionA half-length portrait of a man turned 3/4 to the right. He has shoulder-length grey hair with thin bangs in front. He sits erectly, his hands both holding drawing instruments and resting on the top of the table before him. He wears a dark coat, white waistcoat, and white neckcloth. The background is a warm light brown.

The frame is original to the painting.
Label TextPeter Lenox, son of a Williamsburg wigmaker and barber, had a hand in the most iconic buildings in our nation’s capital: the White House and the Capitol. Drawing on associations likely made during apprenticeships with two Richmond, Virginia, joiners, he eventually secured federal appointments as carpenter and builder. This portrait by Charles Bird King displays some of the drawing instruments Lenox used in his work. His son Walter, pictured with Mrs. Lenox, became the thirteenth mayor of Washington, D. C., later presiding at the laying of the cornerstone for the extention of the U.S. Capitol.

A sizable inheritance enabled Rhode Island native King to apprentice in New York with artist Edward Savage before traveling to London to study with expatriate artist Benjamin West. King returned to the United States in 1812, settling in Philadelphia. After a period of itinerancy, he moved to Washington, where he painted these portraits of Peter Lenox and his wife, Margaret Welling Lenox. In addition to genre and history painting, King is best known today for a series of 143 portraits of Native Americans painted between 1821 and 1842.

InscribedOn the back of the painting is the handwritten statement "This canvas is attached to masonite with beeswax and resin and the back of the masonite is covered with beeswax, also the edges./August 19, 1953/ R{aul}. P{ardee}. Tolman".
ProvenanceBy descent in the family until 1994, when purchased by Randle W. Batley and James O'Connell, antiques dealers of San Diego, California.

Exhibition(s)