The Bermuda Group (Dean Berkeley and His Entourage) by John Smibert

Postcard

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Berkeley Historical Society & Museum

Name/Title

The Bermuda Group (Dean Berkeley and His Entourage) by John Smibert

Entry/Object ID

1978.008.001

Description

The Bermuda Group commemorated an ambitious venture to found a seminary in Bermuda. Frustrated with what he saw as a corrupt European civilization, the philosopher and Anglican cleric George Berkeley (far right) believed that only in the New World would a religious and cultural rebirth be possible. His patron, John Wainright (seated), commissioned the artist John Smibert (standing left), whom Berkeley had hired to teach at the new college, to create this portrait of the expeditionary party, which included two additional wealthy supporters and members of Berkeley’s family. When the seminary project failed for lack of funds, Berkeley’s entourage returned to England, but Smibert moved to Boston and established himself as America’s first professional painter. Despite Berkeley’s misfortune, his poem “Verses on the Prospect of Planting Arts and Learning in America” became a touchstone for the new nation: “There shall be sung another golden age / The rise of empire and of arts / … Westward the course of empire takes its way.” [https://artgallery.yale.edu/collections/objects/21]

Lexicon

Nomenclature 4.0

Nomenclature Primary Object Term

Postcard

Nomenclature Primary Object Term

Photograph

Nomenclature Sub-Class

Writing Media

Nomenclature Sub-Class

Graphic Documents

Nomenclature Class

Written Communication T&E

Nomenclature Class

Documentary Objects

Nomenclature Category

Category 06: Tools & Equipment for Communication

Nomenclature Category

Category 08: Communication Objects

Location

* Untyped Location

Berkeley postcard binder; original stored in Archives