Mrs. Arthur Middleton

Object/Artifact

Historic Charleston Foundation

Name/Title

Entry/Object ID

L.2011.001.2

Description

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.

Collection

Gibbes Museum of Art C/O: Historic Charleston Fo

Made/Created

Artist

Andrew Robertson

Date made

1836

Lexicon

Nomenclature 4.0

Nomenclature Primary Object Term

Painting

Nomenclature Class

Art

Nomenclature Category

Category 08: Communication Objects

Intake

Loan In

L.2011.001

Lender

Angela Mack, Curator

Date Returned

Feb 1, 2011

Created By

admin@catalogit.app

Create Date

January 12, 2011

Updated By

admin@catalogit.app

Update Date

December 7, 2012