Painting
- Title:
- Benjamin Thompson, Count Rumford
- Object Name:
- Painting
- Object ID:
- 2011.007.01
- Creator:
- Kellerhoven, Moritz (1758-1830)
Artist - Place of Origin:
- Munich, Germany
- Date:
- circa 1797
- Description:
- Miniature portrait of Benjamin Thompson, Count Rumford (1753-1814), attributed to Moritz Kellerhoven (1758-1830), c. 1797. Watercolor on ivory. Oval bust-length portrait of a man turned slightly left, eyes toward viewer. Sitter is wearing a white wig, blue uniform with red collar, red and gold sash, and large gold and white star-shaped medal (Order of the White Eagle). In oval brass frame with glass.
- Material:
- Ivory
- Dimensions:
- H-3.25 W-2.6 inches
- Provenance:
- Author and M.I.T. professor Sanborn C. Brown acquired the portrait during the mid 20th century while studying Count Rumford's experiments and inventions. He was the author of numerous works about Rumford's life and inventions. Lois Wright Brown (1918-2022), the donor, is the widow of Sanborn C. Brown.
Born in Woburn, MA, Benjamin Thompson, Count Rumford (1753-1814) studied medicine and science while a youth working in a dry goods store. Marriage to the wealthy widow Sarah Walker Rolfe (1739-1792) of Concord in 1772 gave Thompson the leisure time to begin a life of scientific study and experimentation. With the outbreak of the American Revolution, Rumford, a Tory, left for England, where he became a soldier of fortune and scientist. An officer in the British Army, he rose to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel, commanding troops in battle against Americans. A prolific scientist, Count Rumford authored more than fifty essays on subjects ranging from heat and light to the formation and operation of charitable and scientific institutions. After the Revolution, Rumford lived in London, Munich, and Paris, where he served as a diplomat and soldier. He was knighted by King George III, but spent most of his life in service to Carl Theodore, elector of Bavaria, who made him a Count of the Holy Roman Empire. - Credit Line:
- Gift of Lois Wright Brown
- Subjects:
- Thompson, Benjamin
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