Portrait, Watercolour: Hugh Herron, ESQ

Painting

Bytown Museum / Musée Bytown

Name/Title

Portrait, Watercolour: Hugh Herron, ESQ

Entry/Object ID

P152

Description

Small portrait set in wide wooden square frame. Frame is painted black, has a brass ring at the top for hanging that has a brass plume design at its point of attachment. Brass inner frame. Picture shows a young man with high collared black jacket, white neck stock. Stamped into back of frame: "W. HILL / & Co / BIRMm.". Written on the backing behind picture: "1820". On outer paper backing, now separate from frame: "Hugh Herron Esq. / Mill Street / London / also 28 Charles Square / Hoxton / near London"; on piece of paper that backing is taped to: "April 22, 1951 / This is H. K. Pinhey's handwriting I think. / Underneath this inscription is a date 1820 which is probably the date the picture was framed".

Made/Created

Date made

1820

Notes

Support: PAPER ?

Inscription/Signature/Marks

Notes

Stamped into back of frame: "W. HILL / & Co / BIRMm.". Written on backing behind picture: "1820". On outer paper backing, now separate from frame: "Hugh Herron Esq. / Mill Street / London / also 28 Charles Square / Hoxton / near London"; on piece of paper that backing is taped to: "April 22, 1951 / This is H. K. Pinhey's handwriting I think. / underneath this inscription is a date 1820 which is probably the date the picture was framed".

Lexicon

Nomenclature 4.0

Nomenclature Secondary Object Term

Painting, Miniature

Nomenclature Primary Object Term

Painting

Nomenclature Class

Art

Nomenclature Category

Category 08: Communication Objects

Search Terms

Portrait, Portrait, Communication Artifacts

Legacy Lexicon

Object Name

Painting (visual work), Portrait, Painting

Dimensions

Height

17.8 cm

Width

13.8 cm

Research Notes

Notes

Owned by Hamnett Kirkes Pinhey. Hugh Herron (1793-1852) worked as a silk manufacturer in the family firm Archibald Herron & Sons in London, England.Herron's brother John Herron (born, 1782), immigrated to Upper Canada in the 1830s with his friend and fellow London bachelor John Jeremiah Goodman. Evidently, John Herron brought this miniature portrait of his much loved brother, Hugh, with him. The portrait is of professional quality: all attention is on the face which is modeled with delicate brush strokes of colour, while the jacket and cravat are treated in a more perfunctory manner. Miniature portraits were rarely signed by the artist, but the ink inscription on the back Hugh Herron Esq., Mill Street, London, indicates that it was likely painted by a London miniaturist. John Herron and Goodman operated a store in South March. After John Herron died in 1848, Goodman continued as storekeeper until his death in 1854. Goodman was buried beside John Herron, his long time companion and business partner at St. John's Cemetery, South March. The miniature portrait of Hugh Herron was passed on to Goodman's friend Hamnett Kirkes Pinhey.