Painting

Title:

Otis Robinson

Object Name:

Painting

Object ID:

1950.010.01

Creator:

Ingalls, Walter (1805-1874)Artist

Date:

circa 1840

Description:

Portrait of Reverend Otis Robinson (1764-1835), by Walter Ingalls (1805-1874), c. 1840. Oil on canvas. Half-length portrait of a man, facing slightly right; eyes toward viewer. Oval composition on a vertical rectangle canvas. Sitter has white hair with sideburns, and brown eyes. He is wearing a black coat, black waistcoat, white shirt with turn-down collar and a white cravat with bow. The subject holds open a book in his right hand; his right arm is bent at the elbow; the book cover is brown with white border and corner ornaments. Background is mottled light brown with dark brown painted spandrels. Handwritten label on frame reverse: "Rev. Otis Robinson." Pencil inscriptions on frame reverse: "Rev. Otis Robinson Painted by / Mr. Ingalls Concord N H about 1842" ; "10/2/ { };" ; and "Robinson". Four typed or printed labels, on backing, have been applied by the conservator and describe the treatment and care. There is a small handwritten label with the figure "8" and typed NHHS accession label also on frame reverse. Gilded gesso over molded wood frame.

Material:

Textile
Canvas

Dimensions:

H-29.25 W-23.75 inches

Provenance:

The donor, Avis Whittemore Robinson, is a great-great granddaughter of Rev. Robinson.

One of a pair of portraits said to represent Rev. Otis Robinson (1764-1835), a Baptist minister of Salisbury, NH, and his wife, Hannah Reed Robinson (1762-1840). Both were born in Attleboro, MA, and married there in 1785. In 1810, after living in Maine for 23 years, the Robinsons settled in Salisbury, NH, where Rev. Robinson served as the second pastor of the Baptist Church. He served from 1781-83 in the Second Massachusetts Regiment. He was a blacksmith and was not ordained until 1798.

Attributed by family tradition to Walter Ingalls (1805-1874). According to inscriptions of frames, the pair of portraits was painted by "Mr. Ingalls" in Concord in 1842. Ingalls is known to have worked in Concord briefly in 1834 and may have in other years as well. If the portraits were painted in 1842, they must have been done from earlier likenesses, as both subjects had died by 1840. Stylistically, the portraits relate more closely to Ingalls' work of the 1840s than to his work in the 1830s.

Credit Line:

Gift of Avis W. Robinson

People:

Robinson, Otis (1764-1835), Ingalls, Walter (1805-1874), Robinson, Avis W. (1893-1968)

Subjects:

Robinson, Otis, Baptist churches, Pastors, Blacksmiths, Portrait paintings, Portraits, Books