Portrait of Patrick Henry (1736-1799)

DatePossibly 1834-1837

After work by Lawrence Sully (1769-1804)

OriginAmerica, Pennsylvania, Philadelphia

MediumOil on canvas

DimensionsUnframed: 24 1/8" x 20 3/16". (The painting is currently unframed).

Credit LineMuseum Purchase

Object number1930-590,A

DescriptionA bust-length rendering of a man turned slightly to the right. He has blue eyes. His reddish wig is curled up at the sides and brushed back at the top. He wears a white neckcloth and dark reddish-brown outerware (waistcoat, coat, and caped greatcoat). The background is a scumbled brownish-green.
The sitter is historically identified as Patrick Henry, the composition ultimately deriving from one of the few known life portraits of Henry, Lawrence Sully's 1795 miniature in the collections of Amherst College. Artist unidentified.
Label TextUltimately, this portrait derives from Lawrence Sully's 1795 miniature likeness of Patrick Henry, which was taken from life. The direct prototype, however, may have been some intermediate image, such E. Wellmore's engraved portrait of Henry that appeared in James B. Longacre's and James Herring's National Portrait Gallery of Distinguished Americans, published in 1834-1839. (The engraving was taken from a sepia by Longacre, who based his work on the 1795 miniature).

InscribedOn the back of the lining canvas in modern, print-style lettering, in brown paint (or ink) is "Patrick Henry 1738-1799".
ProvenanceCWF's source, Charles X. Harris, advised Dr. E. G. Swem in a letter of December 24, 1928, that he had acquired this painting about 1916 from Miss Nannie Frazer [daughter of artist Oliver Frazer, 1808-1864) of Lexington, Kentucky. [See copy of Harris letter in file]. No prior history has been recorded.