Skip to main content
Advanced Search
DS2001-0006
Portrait of Edmund Dickinson
DS2001-0006

Portrait of Edmund Dickinson

Dateca. 1770
OriginAmerica, Virginia, Williamsburg
MediumGraphite on a primary support of laid or wove paper, with later additions in watercolor and ink & a secondary support of wove paper.
DimensionsUnframed: 5 1/2 x 5 1/16in. (14 x 12.9cm) and Framed: 8 1/16 x 7 7/8in. N. B. Primary support is very irregular an and is adhered to later support.
Credit LineMuseum purchase, Mr. and Mrs. Harold B. Gill, Jr.
Object number2000-100
DescriptionA half-length profile portrait of a man seated sideways in a chair facing left, his far arm hung over the crest rail, his near hand not shown but possibly intended to be thrust within his waistcoat. He wears a white shirt, white neckcloth, red waistcoat, blue coat and breeches, and has dark blonde or light brown hair caught in a queue at the back and curled up over the ears. He has a long, narrow, aquiline nose.
InscribedOn the reverse of the secondary support in brown ink in script, probably written in the latter part of the nineteenth century and possibly by William R. Smart (1827-1897 or 1899) is: "Major Edmund B. Dickinson/Killed at Battle of/Monmouth/June 28th 1778/He was a brother of Lucy, the/wife of Robert Gibbons, who/was the mother of Louisa Gibbon(s)/who married Wm Smart, who/was the father of Wm R. Smart."

Below the preceding, in another hand, in a darker brown ink in a somewhat later-looking script is: "This picture belongs to/Edmund Dickinson Smart son of/W R Smart".
ProvenanceThe following is partly speculative and partly based on the reverse inscription. More information is in the file.

From the subject to his sister, Mrs. Robert Gibbons (Lucy Dickinson); to her daughter, Mrs. William Smart (Louisa Gibbons); to her son, William Robert Smart (1827-1897 or 1899); to his son Edmund Dickinson Smart (1869-1940 or 1946); to his two children [twins?] R. Henry Smart and Althea O. Smart.