18C American Women 1740s

1740 John Heaton (American colonial era artist, c 1695-a 1742) Magdalena Douw (Mrs Harme) from Albany, New York. (This artist's name also spelled in records of the period Iten, Eyton, Eaton, & Easton.) He married Maria Hooghkerk (daughter of Lucus or Luycas & Judek Marselis) who was born about June 1698, in New Albany, NY. They married June, 1730 in Albany, NY. During the 1730s & early 40s, these Heatons lived in Albany, where their children were baptised in the Dutch church in 1736 & 1738. After 1742, they appear to have relocated to New Jersey, where they joined the Reformed church in Bergen County.

1740 John Smibert (American colonial era artist,1688-1751). Portrait of a Lady.


1740s Artist Unknown. Jocohabed Michaels (Mrs. Judah Mears).


1745-47 Unknown Artist. Martha Salisbury Quincy (Mrs. Norton Quincy).


1746 Joseph Badger (American colonial era artist, 1708-1765). Eliz Storer (Mrs. Isaac Smith).


1746 Robert Feke (American colonial era artist, 1707-1751). Anne McCall.  Robert Feke was born on Long Island, New York. Little is known of his life until 1741, when he painted the Family of Isaac Royall. There are about 16 portraits known to be painted by Feke plus others argued to be by him. Feke worked in Boston, painting the families of wealthy merchants & landowners and seemed to disappear from the records about 1750.


1746 Robert Feke (American colonial era artist, 1707-1751). Anne Shippen (Mrs. Charles Willing) 1710-1791.


1746 Robert Feke (American colonial era artist, 1707-1751). Mary McCall (1725-1799) (Mrs William Plumstead).

1748 Robert Feke (American colonial era artist, 1707-1751). Grizzell Eastwick (Mrs. Charles Apthorp).

1748 Robert Feke (American colonial era artist, 1707-1751). Mrs. Isaac Winslow

1748 Robert Feke (American colonial era artist, 1707-1751) Mrs John Banister

1748 Robert Feke (American colonial era artist, 1707-1751) Elizabeth Erving (Mrs. James Bowdoin II)


1748 Robert Feke (American colonial era artist, 1707-1751). Susannah Faneuil (Mrs. James Boutineau).


1749 John Greenwood (American colonial era artist, 1727-1792). Mrs. Henry Bromfield (Margaret Fayerweather) John Greenwood was a portrait painter & engraver born in Boston, Massachusetts. He apprenticed with Thomas Johnston, a sign painter & engraver from 1742 to 1745, where he copied various English mezzotints. Besides portraits, Greenwood painted satirical works. The artist left Boston in 1752, sailing to the Dutch colony of Surinam & then on to Paris & England. Greenwood died in London, England in 1792.

c. 1749 Robert Feke (Amerian colonial era artist, 1707-1751). Mary (Mrs. John Channing)

1740s Robert Feke (American colonial era artist, 1707-1751) Portrait of a Young Lady


c. 1749 Joseph Badger (American colonial era artist, 1708-1765). Elizabeth Campbell (Mrs. William Foye)

1749 Robert Feke (American colonial era artist, 1707-1751) Mary Ward Flagg

Rebecca Austin Sherman - Divorce & Paintings of the Sherman Limner

1787 Sherman Limner fl 1785-90 (perhaps Abraham Delanoy 1742-1795). Rebecca Austin Mrs John Sherman & son Henry (1789-1817).

 

Rebecca Austin (1753-1830) married John Sherman (1750-1802) on August 28, 1771. He seemed to be a young man of great promise. They both came from good families. He was 21, she was 18.

 

John Sherman was born in New Milford, New Haven, Connecticut, the son of Roger Sherman, a respected attorney at the Continental Congress who helped draft the Articles of Confederation. Thomas Jefferson referred to young John Sherman's father as "Mr. Sherman of Connecticut, who never said a foolish thing in his life;" and John Adams called the elder Sherman, "an old Puritan, as honest as an angel." Roger Sherman was the only American to sign four signficant historical documents: The Continental Association of 1774; the Declaration of Independence; The Articles of Confederation; and The Federal Constitution.

Rebecca's father David Austin was also prominent in the New Haven community. He was named the first president of the New Haven Bank on Dec 22, 1795. He served as deacon of the North Church for 43 years and an alderman under Mayor Roger Sherman. From 1793 to 1801 he was the Collector of Customs.

Rebecca Austin and John Sherman had children John, born 1772; Maria, born 1774; Harriet, born 1776 died 1795; Elizabeth, born 1778; David Austin, born 1781; Charles Sherman born 1783; and Henry Sherman was born in 1785. Although John Sherman served in the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War, he apparently returned home occasionally.

John Sherman was not a foot soldier, he was assigned to headquarters. He enlisted in 1776; and by January 1, 1777, he was Paymaster for the 6th Connecticut Regiment under Colonel Butler. On October 7, 1777, he received his commission as 2nd Lieutenant; and on May 10, 1780, he was promoted to 1st Lieutenant. On June 1, 17781, he was transferred to the 4th Connecticut Regiment under the command of Colonel Samuel Whiting. He served in "Booth's Company" under Captain James Booth, until he was detached to the 11th Connecticut Regiment (by order of Brigader General Sillick Silliman) as part of the "Short Levy" of 1782. On January 1, 1783, he was again transferred to the 2nd Connecticut Regiment, where he served until June of 1783; when he left the army at the rank of Captain in Colonel Gideon Burt's Massachusetts Regiment. He received his Captain's commission by brevet at the close of the war.

When he returned home in the summer of 1783, John Sherman tried his hand at business in New Haven for several years; but by 1788, he decided it was time to move on.

In 1788, John Sherman determined to leave his wife and family, wrote to his father on December 8, "Most respected Parent, My departure from this is absolutely necessary on Account of my entering into business; the Trade of this City at present is not an Object of Importance, & and scarcely of Support, I am now in the prime of life, I hope my Friends will not think me lost, my determinations are Just, that is to pay all their dues and owe no one anything, in consequence of which I shall advise you & Esq Austin, likewise Mrs. Sherman the place of my residence, the Settlement of my Public Accounts will be attended to by me as soon as the Public are ready to make me payment for my Services, otherwise I should have left the United States for a few years, & this is only what prevents. I most probably shall fix my residence at Charles Town, or Savannah, unhappy it is tho past. I did not take your advice, it would not have obliged me to take the present measure (I think the most unfeeling Heart would not wish to distress Mrs. Sherman & the Children in my absence) (I leave them to your care you will please to assert their rights & be their Just protector, & may the most Cordial Friendship ever subsist betwixt you & Esq. Austin. I wish each of you the length of days & that your usefulness may be preserved to the last & and that each of your Families may be happy (my own unhappiness is proceeds from myself only.) I am with every respect, Your son John Sherman."

(Baldwin Family Papers, #55, Manuscripts and Archives, Yale University Library.)

Just a year before John Sherman decided to leave the family, he had portraits of the family painted in 1787 by the Sherman Limner, whose name derives from these portraits. The portraits are of John Sherman; his wife Rebecca holding baby Henry; John's daughter Maria (1774-1857); his son John II; and his son, David Austin (1781-1843), whose portrait is signed on the reverse Jany 2d 1787.

 

Rebecca filed for divorce in 1792 claiming he drank excessively and became violent when drinking and that he was adulterous. In 1792, there was a motion for the continuance in the plea for divorce of Rebecca Austin Sherman vs John Sherman, New Haven 1792. The family portraits apparently became a focus of John's anger with the dissolution of his marriage. (Baldwin Family Papers, #55 Manuscripts and Archives, Yale University Library)

On December 10, 1792, son David Austin wrote to his grandfather Roger Sherman that his father, "then catched down any likenesses and Swore it should not be in the house and that he woyld throw it into the street, I told him if he did not like to see it, I would take it away but he must not throw it into the street and ruin it as I was at the expense of the drawing and I did not choose it should not be destroyed." (Baldwin Family Papers, #55 Manuscripts and Archives, Yale University Library)

A fragment of a letter from the husband John Sherman to Simeon Baldwin exists from December 19, 1792. John Sherman wrote about his wife, "she means to bring in her cut portrait as an Evidence the whole of them were made at my Expense to flatter her Vanity & if the original had been present I should not have done it." The portrait of Rebecca Sherman and her son Henry was slashed. (Baldwin Family Papers, #55 Manuscripts and Archives, Yale University Library)

On January 21, 1793, John Sherman's daughter Maria and her two sisters wrote a letter to their grandfather Roger Sherman. Honored and much respected Grandfather, We sincerely lament the unhappy necessity, which had seperated our Parents. We hope it will not be the means of depriving us of your parental regard and protection. We shall ever retain a grateful remembrance of your past kindness, and hope you will ever continue it to us. The mortifiyig and disagreeable situation we are in, we hope will apologize for the freedom we have taken in addressing you. Our father not satisfied with heaping disgrace and sorrow upon his children, has stripped us of all the Furniture he ever purchased, not even excepting out Portraits, and the arms of the Family from which we are descended, which we would wish to retain. as a remembrance of the family from which we are descended. The Carpet Mama thinks she ought to have, as he made a present of it to her, on his return from the Army before Evidences, as a reward for her faithfulness and Industry. He has likewise taken the Desk, Tea Urn, Silver Handled Knives & Forks, best Bed and Bedding, Chairs, Tables &c., which Mama is very willing he should have. He has been here, & with Roger taken account of all the Provisions, & Stores we have in the House, which are very considerable, and threatened taking them away. He has also given orders to Mr. Baldwin, to receive all the Money due to us from our Boarders, when they return at the end of Vacation. We intreat you Sir, to interpose in our affair, & not suffer him to add affliction, to his already afflicted Children. We shall do everything in our power to assist Mama in the maintenance of the Family , and endeavor to be as little burden to our Friends as possible. We rejoice dear Sir, in the prospect of your speedy return, and hope to find in you an indulgent Father, & unfailing Friend. We hope our future conduct will be such as to merit your approbation and esteem. With the greatest respect Dear Sir, we subscribe ourselves your dutiful & Affectionate Grandchildren, Maria Sherman Betsey Sherman Harriet Sherman (Baldwin Family Papers, #55 Manuscripts and Archives, Yale University Library)
 

In 1793, Sherman wrote that if "A bill of divorce is granted to Mrs. Sherman & and all connections on my part with the Family ceases forever...I am disposed to render them every assistance so far as it respects the children that Humanity & and reason can demand." (Baldwin Family Papers, #55 Manuscripts and Archives, Yale University Library)

Apparently the court determined that Rebecca Austin Sherman's allegations were true, and the divorce was finalized in January 1794. Rebecca Austin Sherman raised her children by running a boarding house, until she died in 1830.

John Sherman remarried Anna Tucker, ten years younger than Rebecca, in September 4, 1794, at Canton, Massachusettes. John Sherman had two more children with his new wife. Sherman supported his new family as a shopkeeper in Canton. He died 8 years later, his widow lived until 1858.

1787 Sherman Limner fl 1785-90 (perhaps Abraham Delanoy 1742-1795), John Sherman (1750-1802) Christies NY 2006

1787 Sherman Limner fl 1785-90 (perhaps Abraham Delanoy 1742-1795) Maria Sherman (Mrs. Ira Hart) 1774-1857. Christies NY 2006.

1787 Sherman Limner fl 1785-90 (perhaps Abraham Delanoy 1742-1795) David Austin Sherman (1781-1843) Christies NY 2006.

1787 Sherman Limner fl 1785-90 (perhaps Abraham Delanoy 1742-1795). John Sherman II. Christies 2006.

On Divorce in the American Colonies & Early Republic

In colonial New England, the legal aspects of marriage differed from mother England, where marriage was an indissoluble religious sacrament. Anglican church courts could order separations of unhappy spouses without right of remarriage; and, by the 18th century, rich men in England could buy private legislative acts authorizing their divorces, if they could prove, in one way or another, their wives' adultery.

The first American couple obtained a divorce in a Massachusettes Puritan court in 1639. In 18th century New England, marriage was a civil contract, and divorces were granted after a judicial proceeding, when a wife's or husband's misconduct was proved. Divorces were occasionally granted elsewhere in colonial North America, but other colonial legislatures did not pass laws allowing divorce before the American Revolution. Because the colonies were more open than the mother country and in a state of constant flux, many unhappy spouses just ended their unbearable marriages by disappearing and marrying again elsewhere.

By the early 19th century, each new American state, except South Carolina, enacted laws authorizing divorce under limited circumstances. A full divorce with right of remarriage for the "innocent" party could be granted if adultery of the "guilty" spouse were proved. In some states, such as New Hampshire, a variety of other grounds, including incest, bigamy, abandonment for 3 years, and extreme cruelty, would also justify a divorce decree. In many states, only the innocent party was set free from the "bonds of matrimony," leaving the guilty party unable to remarry during the lifetime of the innocent spouse who retained the right to inherit land or other property from the guilty one. In most of the new states, courts heard divorce cases; but in Maryland a divorce required a private bill of divorce by the state legislature.

For a contemporary English view of divorce in 1700 from a woman's perspective see, Some Reflections Upon Marriage, Occasioned by the Duke and Dutchess of Mazarine's Case;Which is Also Considered. by Mary Astell, Published by John Nutt, Stationers-Hall, London, 1700.

Elizabeth Becker Curson

1757 Thomas McIlworth (fl 1757-67). Elizabeth Becker (Mrs. Richard Curzon or Curson) 1731-1787. Baltimore Museum of Art. (This depiction is from a lecture slide. Do not copy or reproduce. Contact the BMA for an accurate image.)

Elizabeth Rebecca Becker was born into a family of strong women, but she certainly was not born into elite colonial society. Elizabeth Becker was born in New York City in 1731, the daughter of Frederick Becker and his wife, Anna Catharina Zenger.

Elizabeth Becker's mother Anna Catharina Zenger had sailed to New York City from Germany with her family in 1710. The Zengers hailed from the Rhine section of Germany called the Palatinate, which had been impoverished by a succession of wars and extravagant local rulers.

In 1710, England's Queen Anne sent 3,000 Palatinate refugees to the colonies to establish naval stores in New York. In return for 7 years of labor, the emigrants were promised grants of land. Unfortunately 25 % died during the 2 month voyage. Among the dead was the father of Anna Catharina Zenger. She survived the voyage with her newly widowed mother, older brother 13-year-old John Peter; and her younger brother Johannes.

Anna Catharina's 33-year-old mother Johannah arrived in the new world a widow with 3 children to shelter and feed. In 1711, the widow Zenger apprenticed her 14 year-old son John Peter to New York's only printer, William Bradford (1663-1752).

Completing his indenture in 1718, young Zenger moved to Chestertown, Maryland, to make his living as a printer. Though he was named to print the session laws of the Maryland state legislature, he did not prosper there; and in 1722, he returned to New York. The industrious young Zenger entered into a partnership with his old master Bradford in 1725, leaving just the next year to start his own print shop, only the second in the city of New York.

For several years, Zenger was active printing mostly German religious tracts until, in 1733, he was approached by James Alexander with the opportunity to print America's first political party newspaper, the New York Weekly Journal. James Alexander, a native of Scotland, had emigrated to New York, where he practiced law and became a leading member of the popular party.

A few years earlier, John Peter Zenger's younger sister Anna Catharina had married Frederick Becker in 1727, and their baby Elizabeth Becker would live through turbulent events that seemed to swirl about her throughout her life from the moment she was born.

The same year that Elizabeth Becker was born, the English appointed William Cosby as Governor of New York after removing him from a similar post in the Leeward Islands amid serious controversies. New York was faction-ridden. A brief period of peace ended in 1732, with the arrival of the tainted new governor, who intended to use the post to enhance his own fortunes.

Shortly after arriving in New York, the new English Governor fired the Chief Justice, Lewis Morris, for having the grit to decide against him in a lawsuit. After the new governor removed the Chief Justice, attempted to fix an election, and accepted questionable honorariums, John Peter Zenger agreed to print anonymously James Alexander's attacks on Cosby's administration.

These newspaper revelations so enraged the colonial governor, that he had Zenger imprisoned. Zenger was formally accused of libeling the Governor. Zenger endured nearly 9 harrowing months in New York City's jail refusing to identify Alexander or any of his sources for the offending articles.

Elizabeth Becker's aunt, Zenger's wife Anna, took over. With her husband in jail and young children underfoot, Anna Zenger somehow managed to keep the New York Weekly Journal publishing, missing only one issue.

Because of her stubborn determination, the uninterrupted publication of the newspaper helped build public support for Zenger's plight. In 1735, Zenger's lawyer, Andrew Hamilton, argued that the newspaper articles could not be libelous, because the accusations against Governor Cosby were true.

 

Zenger's attorney Hamilton challenged the constitutionality of the crimes for which his client was being prosecuted. It was one of the first times in American history in which a lawyer challenged the laws rather than the innocence of his clients.

The jury found Zenger not guilty, and the acquittal set an important precedent for American freedom of the press. Released from jail, Zenger immediately wrote A BRIEF NARRATIVE OF THE CASE AND TRYAL OF JOHN PETER ZENGER telling the story of the court case.

When Zenger's neice, Elizabeth Becker turned 16, she met an exciting young Londoner Richard Curson (1726-1805) soon after he immigrated to New York City in 1747. Curson was 21; and after a whirlwind romance, they married in December of 1747.

Newlyweds Richard and Elizabeth sailed back to England, so that the new bride could meet his family. His father, Samuel Curson III, was a successful London wine merchant with extensive business contacts in Italy and Spain.

While young Elizabeth was in England with her new groom, she survived a vicious attack of smallpox leaving her severely permanently disfigured. Longing for the comfort of her family in the American colonies, Elizabeth and Richard returned to New York City in 1756, where Richard used his family's extensive contacts throughout England, Europe, and the Atlantic region to became a prominent merchant and banker.

By 1763, when Elizabeth was 32, she had given birth to 4 children who lived to adulthood: Rebecca, Samuel, Anna Maria, and Richard. Her husband's mercantile career was flourishing by the early 1770s. One of his companies had offices in both New York City and St. Eustatius in the Dutch West Indies. He was trading silks, flour, corn, gunpowder, fish, wines, slaves, tobacco, and rice in ships he was having built as far away as India.

But the war and the arrival of the British interrupted Elizabeth and Richard's success in New York City. The Curson's took their youngest son Richard Jr. and fled New York City in June of 1776, to avoid possible capture by the British; because of their open sympathy for the revolution. By June, 1777, they had settled in the safer port of Baltimore, Maryland, where Richard established a new mercantile firm operating from 1777-1803.

While importing goods and wines from the Carribean, Italy, and Spain, Richard, Sr., also used 8 of his ships as privateers to run the British blockade and attack the enemy vessels during the American Revolution. Elizabeth Becker and Richard Curson thrived in Baltimore, becoming friends with Thomas Jefferson, Light Horse Harry Lee, General Horatio Gates, and Daniel Dulany.

Elizabeth Becker Curson did not fret about finances, she worried about her children.

Because of his sympathy for the revolution, the family's oldest son Samuel had moved to St. Eustatius in the Dutch West Indies by March, 1776, establishing a mercantile company there. When it was safe in 1780, the young Corson returned to New York City.

In 1784, an uncle in England, left 3,000 pounds to his grandnephew Samuel Curson of New York City, who used his windfall inheritance to travel extensively throughout Europe and England. By July, 1785, Samuel had established his own business in New York. His American future looked bright; but in 1785, young Samuel Curson unexpectedly applied to the U.S. Congress for the position of U.S. Consul in London.

Apparently during his travels in England in 1784, he had fathered an illegitimate son with Betsy Burling who soon after married Richard John Whittell of England, a 1st cousin of Samuel Curson. Betsy's new husband tried to blackmail the wealthy American Curson family from England. Betsy's brother (or possibly her new husband posing as her brother) Walter Burling determined that he needed to be much closer to the situation, and he actually moved to Baltimore.

Walter Burling persistently continued to seek monetary satisfaction for the illegitimate child from young Samuel and from his parents Elizabeth Becker and Richard Courson. He physically pursued Samuel Curson from the West Indies to London and finally back to America. In New York, on April 21, 1786, Burling challenged Curson to a duel, in which Samuel received a fatal wound dying 3 days later.

By 1786, Elizabeth Becker Curson had 13 grandchildren in America; one of her sons had been shot to death; one of her grown daughters died from childbearing; and the remaining daughter was married and raising both her own 7 children plus the 6 children of her deceased sister. Daughter Rebecca Curson had married William Seton (1746-1798) in 1767 in New York; and when she died in 1775, the newly widowed William Seton married her sister Anna Maria Curson in 1776.

Elizabeth Becker's grandson, her deceased daughter Rebecca Courson Seton's firstborn son William Seton (1768-1803), married another strong, determined woman, Elizabeth Ann Baley (1774-1821). She converted to Roman Catholicism; founded the American Sisters of Charity (the first sisterhood native to the United States); and was a wife, mother, widow, single parent, and educator. Elizabeth Bayley Seton was the first person born in the United States to become a canonized saint.

Elizabeth Becker's final living son, Richard Curson, Jr., was born on 1763 in New York, and fled to Baltimore, in 1777, with his parents. In 1784, he married Elizabeth Moale, had 3 children who lived to maturity, and lived at his parents' home until 1803. Elizabeth had worried about this son Richard for years. He was in ailing health and suffered from a spinal disease since early childhood.

In 1787, Elizabeth Becker Curson died and was buried at Old Saint Paul's Episcopal Church Cemetery in Baltimore. In 1805, Richard Curson Sr. died and was buried next to his wife.

The following year, their son Richard was declared a lunatic by the Chancery Court of Maryland. The custody of his person & property were given to Samuel Vincent, who had administered the estate for the elder Curson and his wife, Elizabeth Becker Curson. Richard Jr. died on June 14, 1808, and was buried next to his parents in Baltimore.
 

Copley's Concern About Being "A True Artist"

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I have been fretting about John Singleton Copley's worry that as a painter living in the Anglo American colonies, he was just an artisan painting portraits. He longed to become a true artist whose paintings elevated society. His artist stepfather Peter Pelham, a professional purvayor of culture and art who immigrated to Boston from England in the 1720s, would have been well aware of the discussion of the lofty status of an artist in England.

Recently, while reading the earliest copies of the Maryland Gazette on the Maryland State Archives website, I came upon this article, and I understood Copley's tension and disappointment more clearly. The composition is surely a reflection on Horace's Ars poetica, "Ut pictura poesis" -- "as is painting, so is poetry."
This essay first appeared in England called The Free Thinker in 1718. It appeared in Maryland in ten years later in 1728, in the 3rd issue of the first Maryland newspaper ever printed.

The Maryland Gazette From Tuesday, December 17, to Tuesday, December 24, 1728.

Ut Pitura Poesses erit. --
Sir,
The Verses, in the Close of this Paper, furnish me with a proper Occasion to make a few Reflections, upon Poetry and Painting, which may not be unacceptable to such as delight in Either, or Both, of These Arts.
The surprizing Excellency, which is peculiar to a Great Poet, is the Skill of conveying to Another, by the Help of Words, those just and lively Ideas, which rise in his Imagination, in the same Force and Perspicuity, as He himself conceives them. Words, in His Disposal, are Things : And, the Deception proves so strong, that the Reader forgets he is perusing a Piece of Writing or, at least, takes the Poem for a Book of Magick, which (as he passes from one Period to another) surrounds him with amazing Objects and drives him from Passion to Passion ; transporting him into Joys and Griefs, Pleasures and Pains, with a Violence not to be refilled.
The Perfection of a Master-Painter is, to be able to perform the same Wonders by Colours, which the Poet commands by Language. His Ideas pass from his Mind into his Pencil, and rise upon the Canvas in their full Vigour and Proportion. His every Touch is a Creation : The Canvas is no longer a level, lifeless Surface ; but a Scene, diversify with Buildings, Mountains, Forrests; or, perhaps, a Sea, deformed with Tcmpels ; a Sky, enraged with Storms, flashing out Lightning; and Clouds, bursting with Thunder : Or, a Field of War, stained with Blood, and filled with Uproar and Confusion : Or, perhaps, the silent, solitary Retreat of Sorrow and Despair ; or, if he pleases, the Enchanted Bower of Bliss, the Residence of Love and Beauty.
Such is the Efficacy of Words and Numbers; and such the Energy of Lights and Shades, under the Conduct of a superiour Genius : Both equally wonderful in their Operations; both equally Pleasing: But not alike Infinitive; in which Point, the Poet unquestionably claims Preminence over the Painter.
It would be hard to determine which of these Two Arts require the greater Power of Imagination, the longer Term of Experience and the more unwearied Application. It seems equally difficult to paint in Words, or in Colours; so as to impose the One upon the Reader, and the Other on the Beholder, for Realities. The Great Poet, and the Great Painter, think alike : But, They express their Thoughts by very difierent Powers. The Painter's Language is his Colours : The Poet's Colours are his Diction. The strongest Colouring will fade ; and the most significant Words grow obsolete. Many of the most celebrated Writings of Antiquity are preserved : The Paintings are all perished. The Painter is equally understood in all Nations: And the Poet can distribute every One of his Performances into the Hands of all his Countreymen.

The Poet and the Painter may mutually improve one another, by judiciously perusing each others Works. The Similitudes, the Descriptions, and Metaphors of the One ; the Landskips, Figures, and Postures, of the Other, equally tend to regulate, and enliven, the Imagination. The violent Motions of Nature are so very Transient, that it is diffcult to catch distinct Ideas of them from the Life: Whereas, when a Great Painter has fixed a Passion in a Face, the Poet may there study the Workings of it in the Features, at his Leisure: And the Painter may, in his Turn, receive the like Advantage from the Poet.

It is true, the greatest Skill in these Artists, when they arrive to the Perfection of copying happily One from the Other. There is not the least Resemblance between Words and Colours, as there is between different Languages : And therefore, it requires a strong Faculty of Imaging, and a just Manner of Thinking, to be able to Translate out of One of These into the Other, without loosing the Spirit.
To read the Maryland Gazette online go to

http://aomol.net/html/mdgazette.html
Throughout the 18th century, the Maryland Gazette was published in Annapolis, Maryland. Annapolis, Anne Arundel County: Printed by W. Parks, 1727-1734; Printed by Jonas Green and William Rind, 1758-1765; Printed by Jonas Green, 1765-1767; Printed by Anne C. Green, 1767; Printed by Anne C. and William Green, 1768-1770; Printed by Anne C. Green, 1770-1771; Printed by Anne C. Green and Son, 1772-1775; Printed by Frederick Green, 1776-1777; Printed by Frederick and Samuel Green, 1779-1811. .

18th-Century New England Landscapes

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Michele Felice Corne (1752–1845) Ezekiel Hersey Derby Farm

Michele Felice Corne (1752–1845) Harbor View

Michele Felice Corne (1752–1845) New England Country Seat.

Paintings Jeremiah Theus (1710-1774)

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1753 Jeremiah Theus (1716-1774). Elizabeth Martin (Mrs. Jacob Motte).

Jeremiah Theus was born in Chur, Switzerland, on April 5, 1716 and died in Charleston, South Carolina, May 17, 1774. At age 19, Theus arrived in South Carolina in 1735 with his family.

1753 Jeremiah Theus (1716-1774). Elizabeth Prioleau Roupell.

South Carolina's General Assembly encouraged European Protestants to settle in the colony by providing transportation funds and supplying immigrants with farm tools and a year’s stock of food. Theus's family received a 250-acre land grant on the Edisto River and a town lot.

1755 Jeremiah Theus (1716-1774). Suzanna Moore Smyth

By 1740, he began serving as the area's only resident portraitist. He may have received some training in Switzerland and brought some prints with him to South Carolina.

1756 Jeremiah Theus (1716-1774). Portrait of a Lady.

Theus referred to a somewhat limited number of English mezzotint portraits for his client's poses and costumes. He also stylized facial features of his sitters, resulting in many similar portraits.


1756 Jeremiah Theus (1716-1774). Martha Logan (Mrs. Lionel Chalmers).

On August 30, 1740, Jeremiah Theüs advertised in the South-Carolina Gazette:Notice is hereby given, that Jeremiah Theus Limner is remov’d into the Market Square near Mr. John Laurans Sadler, where all Gentlemen and Ladies may have their Pictures drawn, likewise Landskips of all Sizes, Crests, and Coats of Arms for Coaches or Chaises. Likewise for the Conveniency of those who live in the Country, he is willing to wait on them at their respective Plantations.


1757 Jeremiah Theus (1716-1774). Elizabeth Rothmahler.

About 200 hundred portraits from South Carolina and Savannah, Georgia area are attributed to him.


1757 Jeremiah Theus (1716-1774). Elizabeth Wragg Manigault.

He also painted landscapes and coats of arms, and by 1744, was offering an evening drawing school for "young Gentlemen and Ladies" at his house in Charleston.

1757 Jeremiah Theus (1716-1774). Mrs Gabriel Manigault.

His popularity is apparent in a letter written to him by James Habersham (1715–1775), who served as acting colonial governor of Georgia from 1771 to 1773. In July 1772, Habersham wrote to Theüs, "I received...all my Family Pictures, besides Mr Wylly’s, and Mrs Crookes, Coll Jones’ Grandchild, and two for Mr Clay, which are all delivered—I have also your account for my 7 Pictures, amounting to Three Hundred and twenty Pounds South Carolina Currency, which I shall order to be paid you."


1760 Jeremiah Theus (1716-1774). Mary Trusler.


1761 Jeremiah Theus (1716-1774). Polly Ouldfield of Winyah.

1765 Jeremiah Theus (1715-1774) Hannah Dart.


1765 Jeremiah Theus (1716-1774). Mary (Mrs. James Cuthbert).


1770s Jeremiah Theus (1716-1774). Elizabeth Vanderhorst Moore.

1770 Jeremiah Theus (1716-1774). Mrs. Garner Greene.

1771 Jeremiah Theus (1716-1774). Marcy Olney.
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Paintings Joseph Badger

We have already seen several of Joseph Badger's earlier portraits on this blog. Joseph Badger was born on March 14, 1707/8, in Charlestown, Massachusetts, the 6th of 9 children of Mercy Kettell and her husband Stephen Badger, a tailor. Joseph Badger died in Boston on May 11, 1765.

Badger began his career as a house painter and glazier and moved his growing family to Boston in 1733. It is not clear how he evolved into portrait painting, but he probably used a few imported English prints as sources for his compositions, although his poses and formats are similar.

In Boston, Badger lived in the same neighborhood with Scottish-born portriatist John Smibert (1688–1751), who had emigrated from London in 1728, and John Singleton Copley's stepfather, London artist and engraver Peter Pelham ( (1695-1751), who had arrived in Boston a few years earlier than Smibert. And of course, as you have already guessed, both artists sold prints out of their shops introducing poses and costumes from English mezzotints in the baroque depictions of Godfrey Kneller (1646–1723) and Peter Lely (1618–1680) and in the updated rococo style of Thomas Hudson (1701–1779) to local artists and townsfolk.

Artist Thomas Johnston (1708–1767), who painted portraits, furniture & coats of arms; engraved maps, music, bookplates, & clock faces; and even cut gravestones, also lived nearby. Johnston trained artist John Greenwood (1727–1792), who was his Boston apprentice from 1741 to 1745.

Additionally, Badger would have known artist Robert Feke (c 1708–1751) and Joseph Blackburn (fl 1754–1763), who arrived in Boston around 1754, just after Copley's stepfather died.

Apparently paint ran through the Badger family veins. Two of Badger's sons moved to Charleston after his death, advertising themselves as painters in the South-Carolina Gazette, in Charleston, December 8, 1766. A Daniel Badger, perhaps related to Joseph, had advertised himself as a painter in the same newspaper on December 6, 1735, just 2 years after Joseph Badger had settled in Boston.

Here are a few of Joseph Badger's paintings of women from 1750 through the 1760s.


1750 Joseph Badger (1708-1765). Anna Porter (Mrs. Nathaniel Brown). San Francisco Fine Art Museum. (Reproduction at 1st-art-gallery.com. Contact the museum for an accurate image.)

1755 Joseph Badger (1708-1765). Eleanor Wyer (Mrs. Isaac Foster). National Gallery of Art. (Reproduction at encore-editions.com. Contact the National Gallery for an accurate image.)

1758 Joseph Badger (1708-1765). Hannah Minnot (Mrs. Samuel Moody ). New Britain Museum of Art, Connecticut. (This depiction is from a lecture slide. Do not copy or reproduce. Contact the museum for an accurate image.)

1759 Joseph Badger (1708-1765). Hannah Upham (Mrs. John Haskins). Brooklyn Museum. (This depiction is from a lecture slide. Do not copy or reproduce. Contact the museum for an accurate image.)

1760 Joseph Badger (1708-1765). Mrs. Thomas Shippard. (Reproduction at oceansbridge.com.)

1760 Joseph Badger (1708-1765). Sarah Larrabee Edes. Los Angeles County Museum of Art. (This depiction is from a lecture slide. Do not copy or reproduce. Contact the museum for an accurate image.)

1763 Joseph Badger (1708-1765). Mary Croswell. Minneapolis Institute of Art. (This depiction is from a lecture slide. Do not copy or reproduce. Contact the museum for an accurate image.)

1760-65 Joseph Badger (1708-1765). Sarah Badger Noyes. Dallas Museum of Art. (Reproduction at popartmachine.com. Contact the museum for an accurate image.)












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