Name/Title
Portrait of Nathaniel RussellEntry/Object ID
M2018.001.10Tags
Needs reviewDescription
Portrait of Nathaniel Russell, circa 1810-14, by John Wesley Jarvis (American, 1780-1840). Oil on canvas. Historic Charleston Foundation purchase.
Attributed to John Wesley Jarvis, this painting depicts Nathaniel Russell when he was in his late sixties or early seventies, around the time he moved into the Nathaniel Russell House. Born in England, John Wesley Jarvis was the son of an American mariner who later returned to America, settling in Philadelphia by the end of the 1780s. Apprenticed to Edward Savage in 1796, he moved to New York City with Savage in 1801 before establishing himself as an engraver. He entered into a partnership with Joseph Woods which would last from 1803 to 1810, when he left the city to seek portrait commissions in Baltimore and other cities, such as Charleston and New Orleans. By 1814, he had established himself as the pre-eminent portrait painter of his generation, and was commissioned by New York City to paint six full-length portraits of the naval heroes of the War of 1812. Suffering numerous economic setbacks in the 1820s, he would suffer a severe stroke in New Orleans in 1834, dying impoverished in 1840.Collection
Nathaniel Russell HouseAcquisition
Accession
M2018.001.1Source or Donor
Derice DehonAcquisition Method
PurchasedCredit Line
35000Lexicon
Nomenclature 4.0
Nomenclature Secondary Object Term
PortraitNomenclature Primary Object Term
PictureNomenclature Class
ArtNomenclature Category
Category 08: Communication ObjectsProvenance
Notes
The portrait itself descended in the Dehon family (the family of his younger daughter), and was purchased from a widow who had married into the Dehon family.Created By
admin@catalogit.appCreate Date
January 17, 2019Updated By
sferguson@historiccharleston.orgUpdate Date
February 22, 2023