Samuel Huntington
SubjectPortrait of
Governor Samuel Huntington
(American, 1731 - 1796)
Date1790-1800
MediumPainting; oil on cardboard in frame
DimensionsStretcher (height x width): 9 1/2 × 7 3/4in. (24.1 × 19.7cm)
ClassificationsPainting
Credit LineMuseum purchase
Object number1976.23.0
DescriptionPortrait of Samuel Huntington, possibly a forgery of a work by Robert Edge Pine actually painted by George J. Shepard.
Label TextUndated label text:
This painting has been delcared a fake. Several clues alerted the museum to this possibility. Problems were immediately raise by the inscription on the back of the painting (see photograph), which indicates that the portrait was done from life in Philadelphia in 1785. Neither Samuel nor Benjamin Huntington were in Philadelphia later than October 1783, so the likelihood of their ever meeting Pine, who did not arrive in America until 1784, is remote.
There are also stylistic discrepancies. The subject of the portrait does not resemble Samuel Huntington when compared to the 1783 portrait of Huntington by Charles Willson Peale in Independence Hall, Philadelphia. Contrary to the inscription on the back of the painting stating that it was painted in 1785, costume scholars believe that the clothing and hairstyle of the subject actually date the portrait between 1790 and 1800. Lastly, samples of Pine's handwriting do not match the inscription on the back, and "Huntington" is misspelled
Questions are also raised by the painting's provenance. The portrait belonged to a New York collector named Hiram Burlingham, whose collection was sold some time after 1926. Since that time, a number of works from the Burlingham collection have been discredited. It is now believed that the portrait may have been painted by the so-called "Mellon Portraits Forger," who forged a number of portraits of Mellon family ancestors, signing them "Thomas Sully" or "Rembrandt Peale."
NotesSubject note: Painting was purchased knowing it was likely a forgery.This painting has been delcared a fake. Several clues alerted the museum to this possibility. Problems were immediately raise by the inscription on the back of the painting (see photograph), which indicates that the portrait was done from life in Philadelphia in 1785. Neither Samuel nor Benjamin Huntington were in Philadelphia later than October 1783, so the likelihood of their ever meeting Pine, who did not arrive in America until 1784, is remote.
There are also stylistic discrepancies. The subject of the portrait does not resemble Samuel Huntington when compared to the 1783 portrait of Huntington by Charles Willson Peale in Independence Hall, Philadelphia. Contrary to the inscription on the back of the painting stating that it was painted in 1785, costume scholars believe that the clothing and hairstyle of the subject actually date the portrait between 1790 and 1800. Lastly, samples of Pine's handwriting do not match the inscription on the back, and "Huntington" is misspelled
Questions are also raised by the painting's provenance. The portrait belonged to a New York collector named Hiram Burlingham, whose collection was sold some time after 1926. Since that time, a number of works from the Burlingham collection have been discredited. It is now believed that the portrait may have been painted by the so-called "Mellon Portraits Forger," who forged a number of portraits of Mellon family ancestors, signing them "Thomas Sully" or "Rembrandt Peale."
Status
Not on view
George W. Corliss
