Painting

Title:

William Coit Smith

Object Name:

Painting

Object ID:

1979.005

Creator:

Jennys, William (1774-1859)Artist

Date:

circa 1805

Description:

Portrait of William Coit Smith (1778-1860) by William Jennys (1774-1859), c. 1805. Oil on canvas on aluminum. Oval-shaped composition with dark brown painted spandrels. Half-length portrait of a man, facing right; head turned toward viewer. Sitter has white hair cut short with long piece in back and brown eyes. Wearing a black coat with high collar, white tied cravat and white waistcoat with pink trim. Brown background. On frame reverse, right member "Walker" twice, and upper left, "2823". Unsigned. Gilded gesso over molded wood frame.

Material:

Textile

Dimensions:

H-28.2 W-23.2 inches

Provenance:

Thought by the donor to be a painting of Judge Jeremiah Smith (1759-1842), however, further research has shown that Jeremiah Smith was not the great-grandfather of the donor, and of no relation. Jeremiah also lived in Exeter, NH, and had no connection to the Cornish-Plainfield area. The donor's great-grandfather was William Coit Smith (1778-1860) who married Clarissa Child (b. 1797), 1812. Smith graduated from Dartmouth College in 1801, studied law in Woodstock, VT, and was a farmer in Plainfield, NH. The artist, William Jennys, was known to have worked in the Hanover vicinity between 1800-1803, including the towns of Plainfield, Hanover, NH and Woodstock, VT.

This portrait (1979.005) possibly descended in the family of the donor. In an 1979 interview with Wesley House, he said that the portrait hung in his house in Cornish, N.H. (a few miles north of the Cornish/ Windsor Bridge, on the river side of the road) prior to his move to Scotch Plains, NJ.

Credit Line:

Gift of Wesley F. House

People:

Jennys, William (1774-1859), Smith, William Coit (1778-1860)

Subjects:

Lawyers, Farmers, Portraits, Portrait paintings