Images(2)

Portrait of Englehardt Yeiser (ca. 1747-1807)

DateProbably 1800-1803

Attributed to James Martin (fl. 1794 - 1820)

Possibly by David Swope (1771 - 1845)

OriginAmerica, Maryland, Baltimore

MediumPastel on laid paper adhered to canvas

DimensionsStrainers: 24 1/2 x 18 5/16in. (62.2 x 46.5cm) and Framed: 25 7/8 x 19 7/8 x 1 3/8in.

Credit LinePartial gift of Linda C. Simmons

Object number2009.200.1

DescriptionA half-length portrait of a man turned slightly to the right, his proper right hand thrust within his white waistcoat, the other arm extended downwards, its hand out of the composition. He wears a reddish-brown coat and white neckcloth. A black line separating neckcloth and waistcoat may have been included for mere visual separation of the two light-colored passages. The man has blue eyes and collar-length pale, thin, grayish brown hair with bangs slightly parted at center over his forehead. A blue, cloud-studded sky fills the background.

Original 1 3/8-inch black-painted, molded, cyma recta frame with a quarter-round gilded liner.
Label TextOral family histories usually contain grains of truth but are seldom accurate in every detail. An inscription on the back of this portrait, added in the twentieth century, named David Swope as the artist. It is not clear what prompted the claim, but no works solidly identified as Swope's have been found and, stylistically, the portrait of Engelhart Yeiser and that of his wife, Anna Catherine Maria Keener, seem attributable to the relatively obscure James Martin.

In 1795, Martin advertised in New Jersey that he was "from New York, late of Fleet Street, London." Although engraver David Edwin described Martin as a "great portrait painter" who was "overwhelmed with business," either Martin's work has not survived well or much of it has been misattributed to others. Ascription of the Yeisers is based on their similarity to four portraits of members of the Noyes family of Guildford and Lyme, Connecticut, one of which is partially inscribed "Martin portrait painter." However, allusions to David Swope as an artist exist. Examples of his work need to be found and compared with the Yeiser portraits.

Englehardt Yeiser was a successful and respected businessman in Baltimore. Between 1796 and 1804, directories listed him as a merchant or, more specifically, a wine merchant.
InscribedNo original inscriptions have been noted. On the back of the lightweight woven canvas dust cover, in black paint, in forward-slanting script, is: "Engelhardt Yeiser/married, St. Mary's County, Maryland,/August, 1773, Anna Catherine Maria/Keener. E. Y. was a member of/Baltimore's first City Council./Painted by David Swope."
Perpendicular to the preceding in blue ballpoint pen in script in smaller lettering is: "Engelhardt Yeiser of Baltimore, Md./great-great-great-great-grandfather/[one entire line blacked out and now illegible]/Married 1773,". In the same hand and pen, further down on the dust cover, is: "From [word or words blacked out and now illegible] 12/25/1959."
In black paint on the paper remnants still adhered to the back of the upper strainer is, in a modern-looking hand, "Engelhardt Yeiser/BY D. SWOPE".
MarkingsTwo widely separated watermarks appear in the paper primary support but are not clearly distinguishable, partly due to the canvas secondary support. One appears to be at least two lines of open block lettering; it is oriented at a right angle to the sitter and extends vertically through the sitter's proper right temple; the second line perhaps starts with a capital "B" and perhaps ends in "CEN".
The second watermark is much more elaborate and larger (at least 8 3/4-inches in height) and appears just above the subject's hand, oriented perpendicular to the sitter. Discernible elements include a crown and fleur-de-lis.
A newspaper fragment adhered to the back of the lower strainer bears the masthead, "THE LUTHERAN OBSERVER PHILADELPHIA".
ProvenanceDescended in the sitter's family to Mrs. Melvin Lee Steadman, Jr. (maiden name unknown) of Virginia Beach, Va., as of November 24, 1973; sold at auction (C. G. Sloan & Co., Inc., of Washington, D. C. and Baltimore, Md.) October 1-3 [year uncertain; possibly 1977], catalogue lot no. 1585; purchased at preceding auction by Robert and Linda Simmons of Arlington, Va.; the latter was CWF's source.