Portrait of Mr. Briggs

Dateca. 1840

Attributed to Charles Burton (1782 - after 1847)

MediumWatercolor and pencil on wove paper

DimensionsPrimary support: 10 1/4 x 8 1/8in. (26 x 20.6cm) and Framed: 13 11/16 x 11 1/2in.

Credit LineGift of Abby Aldrich Rockefeller

Object number1936.300.1

DescriptionA bust-length portrait of a man, possibly seated (see 36.300.2-3), though there is no support visible. He faces left in profile, and the background is nearly identical to that in acc. no. 1936.300.2, although reversed, i.e., the column is on the right, not the left, etc. His smooth, slightly wavy, brown hair is meticulously rendered. The front is combed down toward his left ear, but the hair at the back of his head is combed forward in front of his ear and toward his eye. He has "muttonchop" whiskers, brown eyes, and two small moles beneath his left eye. He wears a white shirt and a black stock.

The 2-inch mahogany-veneered splayed frame is possibly original.
Label TextNineteenth-century portraitists commonly relied on a number of mechanical and/or optical devices to facilitiate accurate image-taking, and the precise outlines of this subject stongly suggest such usage. Indeed, Burton advertised "Pencil or Colored Likenesses truly taken, with the Camers Lucida, at 3 to $8 each" in the Richmond [Virginia] Compiler for October 23, 1841. The camera lucida incorporates a prism or mirrors and often a microscope to project an image onto a plane surface so that its outline can be easily traced. While it aided in the transmittal of any image, it was particularly useful in rendering profiles (which, in any event, were simpler to depict than full-face or three- quarter images).

The identitites of this subject and those represented in two companion portraits (1936.300.2 and 1936.300.3) remain uncertain. The three were identified as "Mr. and Mrs. Briggs" and "Mary Briggs" by the dealer who sold the trio to Mrs. Rockefeller in the 1930s. They may be Dr. Robert Briggs (d. 1838), his wife Mary (1811-1872), and their daughter, all of Richmond.
InscribedNo original inscriptions found. On the reverse, in the lower right corner, in pencil, appears: "Mr.B./ 300.35," the number being one of Mrs. Rockefeller's accession designations.
ProvenanceMaude Pollard Hull, Richmond, Va.; Mrs. John D. Rockefeller, Jr.; Given to CWF by Mrs. John D. Rockefeller, Jr.