Portrait of Oliver Wight (1765-1837)

Date1786-1793

Attributed to The Beardsley Limner (active 1785-1805)

OriginAmerica, Massachusetts, Sturbridge (probably)

MediumOil on canvas

DimensionsOther (unframed): 31 1/4 x 25 1/2in. (79.4 x 64.8cm) Framed: 34 1/2 x 28 1/4 x 2 1/8in. (87.6 x 71.8 x 5.4cm)

Credit LineMuseum Purchase

Object number1957.100.9

DescriptionOil portrait of young man viewed half length seated in green painted hoop backed windsor chair with arms turned slightly to his right in landscape setting. Large leafy tree fills area directly behind sitter, and pinkish sky visible in distance above and behind sitter's right arm. He is wearing an ivory colored coat with large round buttons along the right side, folded back cuffs and two buttons at the cuffs with high collar. The coat is open to reveal a light blue silk vest and large white ruffle and bow of white shirt and neckcloth. His pants are black. In his left hand he holds a wooden cane with silver colored top and two black rope fringe or tassles hanging from it. He also wears a stylish large wide brimmed, high crowned hat with an oval pin consisting of series of small pearl like stones. His skin tones are pinkish and the veins are visible on his hands. His cheeks are high and his nose angular. His eyes are almond shaped and blue. His light curly brown hair extends below his shoulders in the back. A very sophisticated, assured, worldly gentleman.
Label TextThe portraits of Oliver and Harmony Wight are two of the Beardsley Limner's strongest and most effective pictures. The artist used a series of triangles to structure both compositions. He emphasized the carefully painted faces and attempted to individualize the features, especially the arch in Wight's nose. The hair, the beribboned and ruffled bonnet, and the modish beaver hat were also handled rather precisely in contrast to the sketchy painting of the shawl, shirt, and coat buttons. The curtains and bushes behind the Wights are not merely decorative but define the heads and serve to link and to balance the compositions in terms of color and design when they are hung together.
Oliver Wight was born in Sturbridge, MA, on September 27, 1765, and lived there intermittently most of his life. When he was twenty-one, he married Harmony Child, who is thought to have been born in 1765 in Woodstock, Conn. For the next seven years, Wight worked as a cabinetmaker and built a substantial house and barn on land given him by his father. Oliver Wight's house still stands on its original location and is now owned by Old Sturbridge Village.
MarkingsNone found
ProvenanceIsabel Carleton Wilde, Cambridge, MA; Edith Gregor Halpert (2); Boris Mirski Art Gallery; M. Knoedler. (67).