Everard Benjamin, 1795

Not on View

Medium

oil on canvas

Dimensions

overall: 76.2 x 63.5 cm (30 x 25 in.)

framed: 81.9 x 69.2 x 3.1 cm (32 1/4 x 27 1/4 x 1 1/4 in.)

Credit Line

Gift of Edgar William and Bernice Chrysler Garbisch

Accession Number

1953.5.21

Artists / Makers

William Jennys (painter) American, active 1793/1807

Image Use

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Inscription

on original stretcher: Everard Benjamin Born Jan 2[ ] 1791 [ ] May [1?] 1795

Provenance

The sitter's father, Asa Benjamin [1763-1833], Stratford, Connecticut; by descent in his family to Hannah Maria Benjamin Russell [1809-1894, Mrs. Lewis H. Russell], Stratford;[1] by descent to her granddaughter, Frances B. Russell, Stratford, by 1941.[2] (Mr. Aarons, Ansonia, Connecticut); sold 1952 to Edgar William and Bernice Chrysler Garbisch (perhaps with Frederick Fuessenich as agent); gift 1953 to NGA.

[1] Robyn Asleson, curator at the Smithsonian Institution's National Portrait Gallery, kindly brought to the NGA's attention the inclusion of this painting, as well as NGA 1953.5.19 and 1953.5.20, in an 1889 exhibition in Stratford (see her e-mail of 17 August 2020 to NGA curator Sarah Cash, in NGA curatorial files). The paintings were lent by Hannah M.B. Russell, indicating they had remained in the sitters' family, information that was not known when the NGA catalogue of its naïve American paintings was published in 1992.

[2] Frederic F. Sherman, in Richard Jennys, New England Portrait Painter, Springfield, Massachusetts, 1941: 64, reproduces this painting with the credit line, "Property of Miss Frances B. Russell." On p. 65, Sherman notes that he found the painting in Stratford, Connecticut, presumably where Miss Russell lived.

Associated Names

Aarons, Mr.
Garbisch, Edgar William, Mr. and Mrs.
Russell, Frances B.
Russell, Hannah Maria Benjamin

Exhibition History

1889: Loan Exhibition, on the occasion of the 250th anniversary of the settlement of Stratford, Connecticut, 3 October 1889, no. 38.

1973: Extended loan for use by the U.S. Consulate, Leningrad, U.S.S.R., 1973-1978.

1987: The American Primitive: Naive Paintings from 1720 to 1870, Mansfield Art Center, Ohio, 1987, no. 3, repro.

Bibliography

1941: Sherman, Frederick. Richard Jennys, New England Portrait Painter. Springfield, Massachusetts, 1941: 64, 65, 67.

1956: Warren, William L. "A Checklist of Jennys Portraits." Connecticut Historical Society Bulletin 21 (April 1956): 37, 49, 50.

1970: American Paintings and Sculpture: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1970: 74, repro.

1980: American Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1980: 183, repro.

1992: American Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1992: 212, repro.

1992: Chotner, Deborah, with contributions by Julie Aronson, Sarah D. Cash, and Laurie Weitzenkorn. American Naive Paintings. The Collections of the National Gallery of Art Systematic Catalogue. Washington, D.C., 1992: 224, repro. 223.