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Portrait 1956-272
Portrait of James Cuthbert (1787/8-1813)
Portrait 1956-272

Portrait of James Cuthbert (1787/8-1813)

Date1811 or 1812
Artist Cephas Thompson (1775-1856)
OriginAmerica, Virginia, Norfolk
MediumOil on canvas, framed
DimensionsUnframed: 30 3/8" x 25 1/4" and Framed: 36 3/4" x 31 11/16" x 2 7/8"
Credit LineBequest of Lucy L. and Louise M. Powell and gift of Francis T. S. and Grace E. Powell
Object number1956-272
DescriptionA half-length portrait of a young man facing left; his hands are not shown. He wears a black coat, a white, ruffled shirt, and a white neck cloth. His medium brown hair is swept forward at the sides and up in the front, with modest side whiskers. He appears slightly cross-eyed. Behind him a clouded sky shades from light (directly behind his head) to medium and darker at the bottom of the canvas.

The 3 1/2-inch gilded frame is probably original. It is made of a softwood (est. by eye as a conifer 3/20/2003) and consists of, at the sight edge, a flat plane and scoop molding separated by a strip of egg-and-dart ornamentation, plus an outer frame of sanded scoop molding.

Label TextPortraitists varied widely in their ability and willingness to travel in search of commissions. Cephas Thompson was more peripatetic than most, periodically leaving his native New England to paint in such far-flung destinations as Maryland, Virginia, South Carolina, Georgia, and Louisiana. The austere, near monochromatic color scheme of this portrait and of its companion (of Frances Bragg) may reflect a broader developing taste for grisaille (painting in shades of gray).
The artist's Memorandum of Portraits combined with his Norfolk newspaper advertisements indicate that the Cuthberts were painted a few months before their June 2, 1812 marriage. James Cuthbert was a merchant in Norfolk, Virginia. He died prematurely, reportedly lost at sea, little more than two months after the July 3, 1813, birth of the couple's only child, a daughter named Henrietta. Frances Bragg was a grandniece of George Wythe of Williamsburg. In later life, Frances Bragg Cuthbert lived with her daughter and son-in-law, Dr. Francis T. Stribling, in Staunton, Virginia.

InscribedNone found. See "Notes" regarding documentation of the artist ascription.
ProvenanceFrom the subject to his wife, Mrs. James Cuthbert (nee Frances Bragg); to her only child, Mrs. Francis Taliaferro Stribling (nee Henrietta Frances Cuthbert)(1813-1889); to her eldest child, Mrs. Hugh Lee Powell (nee Ella Matilda Stribling)(b. 1833); to her three children, Lucy Lee Powell (b. 1868), Louise M. Powell (1871-1943), and Francis T. S. Powell (b. 1874).

File information indicates that Lucy Lee Powell either bequeathed, or expressed interest in bequeathing, her share of the painting to CWF. Louise M. Powell bequeathed her share of the painting to CW.

In an agreement dated January 28, 1944, CWF gave to Francis T. S. Powell any interest in the painting it may have received via the wills of Lucy Lee Powell and Louise M. Powell; in the same agreement, Francis T. S. Powell and his wife, Grace E. Powell, gave their (by then, total) interest in the painting to CWF but retained right of possession within their lifetimes. Grace E. Powell outlived her husband but decided to turn the painting over to CWF prior to her own death; accordingly, the painting was delivered to CWF in October 1956 (about the time Grace E. Powell moved from Staunton, Va., to Baltimore, Md.)