Alicia Russell Middleton (1789-1840), Mrs. Arthur Middleton

Art

Historic Charleston Foundation

Alicia

Name/Title

Alicia Russell Middleton (1789-1840), Mrs. Arthur Middleton

Entry/Object ID

67.1.1

Description

Edward Savage (American, 1761-1820) Alicia Russell (Mrs. Arthur Middleton, 1789-1840) Probably Philadelphia, PA ca. 1795/1796 Oil on canvas Portrait of Alicia Russell Middleton (1789-1840) As a Child By Edward Savage C.1797 Full Length Portrait of a Young Girl in White Dress with Blue Sash, Red Shoes, Holding a Basket of Pink Flowers on Right Arm. with Her Left Arm She Picks Pink Flowers From a Plant At Right Corner of Canvas. Palmetto Tree in Left Background with Blue Sky in Right Upper Background. Edward Savage (American, 1761-1820) Alicia Russell (Mrs. Arthur Middleton) Probably Philadelphia, PA, ca. 1795/1796 Oil on canvas, H. 45 1/4 x W. 36 3/16 x D. 2 1/4 (framed) inches Historic Charleston Foundation, collection purchase, Charleston, SC, 67.1.1 Conservation and transportation supported by Mr. and Mrs. Douglas B. Lee 1937.005.0002.tif Andrew Robertson (Scottish, 1777-1845) Mrs. Arthur Middleton (Alicia Hopton Russell Middleton) London, England, 1836 Watercolor on ivory, H. 3 3/4 x W. 3 inches; (case) H. 5 3/8 x W. 4 3/4 x D. 1/2 inches Lent by Gibbes Museum of Art/Carolina Art Association, Charleston, SC, by family decent, 1937.05.0002 The youngest daughter of Nathaniel Russell (1738-1820) and Alicia Hopton (1753-1832), Alicia Hopton Russell (1789-1840) married Arthur Middleton (1785-1837) in 1808. With the union, two of Charleston's most influential families, representing the merchant and planters classes, reasserted the prominence of two of Charleston's most influential families. Representing American and European portrait traditions of the late-eighteenth and mid-nineteenth centuries, Alicia Hopton Russell Middleton was painted in her youth by Philadelphia artist Edward Savage (1761-1817) and in her adulthood by Scottish miniaturist Andrew Robertson (1774-1825). The self-taught Savage, most known for his portrait of George Washington (1789/1790), set up a Philadelphia studio in 1795 after a short sojourn in London where he studied under Benjamin West. Given her mother's fondness for gardening it is no surprise that Alicia, at the age of six, was painted "among a nest of roses." Traveling on the Grand Tour in 1835, Alicia commented on the surrounding landscape, making specific references to "mommas garden." Before her return to Charleston in 1836, she had her likeness taken by miniaturist Andrew Robertson, also an acquaintance of Benjamin West. While most miniaturists working in the nineteenth century celebrated the translucent quality produced by working in watercolor, Robertson imitated full-scale oil portraits by bathing his subjects in strong light. BJO William Faux as quoted in Reuben Gold Thwaites, ed., Early Western Travels, 1748-1846: A Series of Annotated Reprints of some of the rest and rarest contemporary volumes of travel… (Cleveland, OH: The Arthur H. Clark Company, 1905), 94.

Artwork Details

Medium

Oil on Canvas

Collection

Historic Charleston Foundation Collection

Acquisition

Accession

67.1

Made/Created

Artist

Savage, Edward (American, 1761-1820)

Date made

1795 - 1796

Place

Location

Painted in Charleston

Lexicon

Nomenclature 4.0

Nomenclature Primary Object Term

Painting

Nomenclature Class

Art

Nomenclature Category

Category 08: Communication Objects

LOC Thesaurus for Graphic Materials

Children, Portrait paintings

Other Name

Portrait

Dimensions

Height

40 in

Width

31-3/4 in

Dimension Notes

[height]40" __[length] __[width]31.75" __[depth] __[diameter] __[size] __[other] Frame Size: 45.5 x 36.1875 x 2.25

Location

Room

103

Building

Nathaniel Russell House

Date

February 7, 2023

Location

Building

NR DINING ROOM

Moved By

June Hawkins

Date

June 25, 2002

Notes

Until: / /

Condition

Overall Condition

Fair

Notes

Was Lined, Restretched on New Stretchers, Old Varnish Removed, Cleaned Restored Revarnished and Inpainted.

Relationships

Related Person or Organization

Person or Organization

Middleton, Alicia Russell

Person or Organization

Savage, Edward

Provenance

Notes

"son of the sitter who gave it to his son, Ralph Izard Middleton, who gave it his daughter, Mary Middleton, who married Robert E. Lee III. It was then given to a nephew, B.M. Middleton, who sold it to M. Knoedler & Co. (New York)

Exhibitions

General Notes

Note

Status: OK Location Details1: 1

Created By

admin@catalogit.app

Create Date

February 27, 1998

Updated By

sferguson@historiccharleston.org

Update Date

May 1, 2023