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Following their engagement R.J. wrote lovingly to his young—she was thirty years younger than he—fiancée: “I believe no one on earth is blessed with a more noble earnest sincere lovely & sweeter or better wife than I will have in you.” [1] They were married in February 1905 at her home in Mount Airy, North Carolina.
R.J. Reynolds (1850–1918) was born in rural Patrick County, Virginia, the son of a prosperous merchant and manufacturer of tobacco. He attended Emory and Henry College for two years, followed by more study at Bryant and Stratton Business College in Baltimore. In 1874 he sold his interest in the family business and moved to Winston, North Carolina, where he founded the R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company. An early concentration was on plug, also known as chewing, tobacco, but in 1907 he launched Prince Albert smoking tobacco, followed six years later by Camel cigarettes, a special blend that became a great success as a result of advertising. At its height, the company encompassed 121 buildings and, for its day, had many enlightened policies such as medical coverage for on-the-job accidents, free ice water, a day nursery for African American children, and lunchrooms for all employees, albeit segregated. Blessed with tremendous acumen for business, Reynolds became one of the richest men in North Carolina and was also a risk-taker who believed in hard work. As he told a local newspaper: “I was trained early in the value of work by my father, who was a successful planter and business man. He took a great deal of interest in training young men to work, and in this he gained a reputation for efficiency. Above all things else, he believed firmly in work.” [2] After enduring a long and debilitating illness, R.J. Reynolds, several days before his death, arranged for matching legacies of $120,000 to be given to Winston-Salem’s black and white hospitals.
On their fourteen-week honeymoon, Katharine and R.J. Reynolds traveled extensively through Europe. They visited almost all the capital cities—London, Paris, Rome, Berlin, and Vienna, along with other cultural centers such as Florence, Venice, and Dresden. Their presence in London was noted in the New York Herald: “among the American passengers on the Baltic now stopping at the Carlton Hotel, London.” [3] The experience expanded the horizons for both of them, and, for him in particular, it was a dramatic change from his intense regimen at the factory.
In this portrait, R.J. Reynolds is shown bust-length, facing forward against a somber brownish background. A robust man, he wears a dark gray suit, matching vest, white shirt, and black tie. His short grayish-brown hair is swept back revealing a broad brow; he sports a full moustache and a somewhat brushy goatee. His dark eyes regard the viewer directly with a kindly and dignified expression.
The portraits of Katharine and R.J were based on photographs taken in Pirou’s studio, a common and expeditious process for an American couple traveling abroad. The photograph of R.J. on which this oil is based is actually three-quarter length and he is depicted with his right hand resting on some books, his left in a pocket, standing against a studio drape. One adjustment the painter made for the oil was to raise the watch fob and chain higher up his chest, so that it might be visible. Although the canvas is signed in the upper right, Eug. Pirou, it may have been painted by an assistant.
Notes:
[1] R.J. Reynolds to Katharine Smith, undated, 1905, New Hoffman House file, quoted in Michele Gillespie, Katharine and R.J. Reynolds:? Partners of Fortune in the Making of the New South (Athens, GA: University of Georgia Press, 2012), 129.
[2] R.J. Reynolds quoted in Nannie Tilley, The R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Company (Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina, 1985), 25.
[3] New York Herald, March 11, 1905 quoted in Ruth Mullen, The Paris Gowns in the Reynolda House Costume Collection (Winston-Salem, NC: Reynolda House Museum of American Art, 1995), 7.
ProvenanceBarbara B. Millhouse, New York. [1]
Notes:
[1] Loan Agreement.
Exhibition History
DepartmentHistoric House
R. J. Reynolds
Artist
Eugène Pirou
(1841 - 1909)
Date1905
Mediumoil on canvas
DimensionsFrame: 33 3/4 x 29 1/2 in. (85.7 x 74.9 cm)
Canvas: 24 1/4 x 20 in. (61.6 x 50.8 cm)
SignedEug. PiRou
Credit LineGift of Barbara B. Millhouse
CopyrightPublic Domain
Object number2023.4.1
DescriptionAs early as the eighteenth century in America, it was common practice for couples to commemorate their marriages by commissioning portraits. With the invention and evolution of photography, the practice has been made simpler and continues four centuries later. While on their honeymoon in Europe in 1905, Katharine Smith and Richard Joshua Reynolds had their portraits taken by camera and then copied onto canvas. They employed the highly regarded and successful photographer Eugène Pirou, visiting his premises at 25 Rue Royale in Paris.Following their engagement R.J. wrote lovingly to his young—she was thirty years younger than he—fiancée: “I believe no one on earth is blessed with a more noble earnest sincere lovely & sweeter or better wife than I will have in you.” [1] They were married in February 1905 at her home in Mount Airy, North Carolina.
R.J. Reynolds (1850–1918) was born in rural Patrick County, Virginia, the son of a prosperous merchant and manufacturer of tobacco. He attended Emory and Henry College for two years, followed by more study at Bryant and Stratton Business College in Baltimore. In 1874 he sold his interest in the family business and moved to Winston, North Carolina, where he founded the R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company. An early concentration was on plug, also known as chewing, tobacco, but in 1907 he launched Prince Albert smoking tobacco, followed six years later by Camel cigarettes, a special blend that became a great success as a result of advertising. At its height, the company encompassed 121 buildings and, for its day, had many enlightened policies such as medical coverage for on-the-job accidents, free ice water, a day nursery for African American children, and lunchrooms for all employees, albeit segregated. Blessed with tremendous acumen for business, Reynolds became one of the richest men in North Carolina and was also a risk-taker who believed in hard work. As he told a local newspaper: “I was trained early in the value of work by my father, who was a successful planter and business man. He took a great deal of interest in training young men to work, and in this he gained a reputation for efficiency. Above all things else, he believed firmly in work.” [2] After enduring a long and debilitating illness, R.J. Reynolds, several days before his death, arranged for matching legacies of $120,000 to be given to Winston-Salem’s black and white hospitals.
On their fourteen-week honeymoon, Katharine and R.J. Reynolds traveled extensively through Europe. They visited almost all the capital cities—London, Paris, Rome, Berlin, and Vienna, along with other cultural centers such as Florence, Venice, and Dresden. Their presence in London was noted in the New York Herald: “among the American passengers on the Baltic now stopping at the Carlton Hotel, London.” [3] The experience expanded the horizons for both of them, and, for him in particular, it was a dramatic change from his intense regimen at the factory.
In this portrait, R.J. Reynolds is shown bust-length, facing forward against a somber brownish background. A robust man, he wears a dark gray suit, matching vest, white shirt, and black tie. His short grayish-brown hair is swept back revealing a broad brow; he sports a full moustache and a somewhat brushy goatee. His dark eyes regard the viewer directly with a kindly and dignified expression.
The portraits of Katharine and R.J were based on photographs taken in Pirou’s studio, a common and expeditious process for an American couple traveling abroad. The photograph of R.J. on which this oil is based is actually three-quarter length and he is depicted with his right hand resting on some books, his left in a pocket, standing against a studio drape. One adjustment the painter made for the oil was to raise the watch fob and chain higher up his chest, so that it might be visible. Although the canvas is signed in the upper right, Eug. Pirou, it may have been painted by an assistant.
Notes:
[1] R.J. Reynolds to Katharine Smith, undated, 1905, New Hoffman House file, quoted in Michele Gillespie, Katharine and R.J. Reynolds:? Partners of Fortune in the Making of the New South (Athens, GA: University of Georgia Press, 2012), 129.
[2] R.J. Reynolds quoted in Nannie Tilley, The R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Company (Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina, 1985), 25.
[3] New York Herald, March 11, 1905 quoted in Ruth Mullen, The Paris Gowns in the Reynolda House Costume Collection (Winston-Salem, NC: Reynolda House Museum of American Art, 1995), 7.
ProvenanceBarbara B. Millhouse, New York. [1]
Notes:
[1] Loan Agreement.
Exhibition History
Status
On view
July 9, 1980
June 19, 1980
June 17, 1980
1931-1932