Portrait of Thomas Robinson Yeatman (1789-1832)

Date1814

Attributed to Felix Thomas Sharples (ca. 1786 - after 1824)

MediumPastel on paper, framed

DimensionsPrimary Support: 9 x 7 1/16in. (22.9 x 17.9cm) and Framed: 13 1/8 x 11 1/8 x 1 11/16in.

Credit LineGift of Mrs. Billie A. Yeatman in memory of her husband, John Patterson Yeatman

Object number2005-50

DescriptionA bust-to-half-length portrait of a young man with his body turned 3/4 to the viewer's right, his head turned toward the viewer. He has dark brown hair combed forward toward his face, light blue (or gray) eyes, and wears a black or dark gray coat over a white waistcoat, white stock, white tie, and white shirt. The background is hatched and cross-hatched in shades of dark brownish-black.

The 2 3/8-inch frame is original and consists of a cyma recta black-painted molding with a liner (possibly once gilded but now gold painted) bearing an approximation of an egg-and-dart relief design. There is a hanging ring in the center of the top frame member.

Label TextThe subject of 2005-50 was the son of Thomas Muse Yeatman (1762-1812) and Mary Tompkins Yeatman (1765-1796), daughter of John Tompkins. On 12 February 1815, he married Elizabeth Tabb Patterson (1796-1868). The couple had eleven children before the subject's death in 1832. The younger Yeatmans lived at "Isleham" in Gloucester Co., Va.
The subject's parents, the subject, the subject's wife, and three of their 11 children were all buried in the "Yeatman plantation cemetery" (on the North River opposite "Toddsbury"), whence their remains and tombstones were, in 1959, removed to the yard of Ware Episcopal Church, near Gloucester Court House, Gloucester Co., Va.

InscribedA modern freehand inscription on the dust cover 9/22/03 written partly in ink and partly in graphite (but all apparently by the same hand) reads as follows, with bracketed material being supposed and supplied (as paper tapes obscure part of the wording): "Portrait by [James Sharpless]/of/Thomas R[obinson Ye]atman/[of]/Isleham [Gloucester] County, Va./Born [January 5], 1789/Di[ed August 28? or 2]2, 1832".
A relatively modern-looking freehand inscription in ink on the secondary support of pressed fiberboard does not appear to have been written in the same hand as the dust cover inscription. It reads "Portrait by Mr. Sharpless of/Thomas Robinson Yeatman Esq./of Isleham Mathews Co. Va/1814".
ProvenanceThe line of descent that follows is partially conjectural and perhaps not applicable to all four family portraits that were given to CWF together, i.e., 2005-47-2005-50:
from Thomas Robinson Yeatman (1789-1832) to his son, Albert Allmand Yeatman (1831-1888); to his son, John Patterson Yeatman (1878-1951); to his son, Richard Gallatin Haden Yeatman (1907-1973); in the 1970s, to his son, John Patterson Yeatman (1938-2002); to his wife, Mrs. John Patterson Yeatman (nee, Billie Wyatt); to CWF.