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Jeremiah Thëus, Charleston’s foremost portrait painter, often visited wealthy families at their plantations in order to execute commissions for portraits. It is possible that Thëus traveled to Hopsewee from Charleston in order to paint this portrait of the 27-year-old Mrs. Thomas Lynch, or perhaps that the artist executed the commission during a visit by the Lynches to Charleston. The painting shares much in common with other Thëus portraits: the attention to fine details of dress, the oval format, the lively palette. Thëus was not particularly talented at conveying his subjects’ personalities, but his attention to the elements that communicate wealth and status would have won him favor with most Charlestonians. Elizabeth’s rather bland expression might, in fact, have been interpreted by her contemporaries as elegant reserve.
The stiffness of Elizabeth’s figure may be attributed to the fact that Thëus borrowed the pose and costume details such as the nosegay and taffeta shawl from a mezzotint of about 1752 depicting the Duchess of Hamilton Brandon. [2] Copies of the mezzotint, after a painting by the English artist Francis Cotes, would have been available in the colonies. It was fairly common for artists such as Thëus to use mezzotints as sources for poses and costumes. Thëus’s subjects, rather than being disappointed that their portraits were “copies” of someone else, would have been flattered by the association with a person of distinction. Heightening the artificiality of the image is the fact that the dress is not typical of the eighteenth century; it is instead more typical of the seventeenth century and may in fact have been a costume Cotes had made for the original painting of the duchess. [3]
Elizabeth Allston Lynch died sometime around 1755, close to the time that Thëus painted this portrait. Although the cause of her death is unknown, it is certain that mortality rates in the South were high, exacerbated by climate-related illnesses such as malaria and dysentery. It is also possible that Elizabeth was weakened by births of three children in quick order: Sabina in 1747, Esther in 1748, and Thomas in 1749. In spite of the shortness of her life, her name does have a small place in history; her son Thomas Lynch, Jr. went on to sign the Declaration of Independence in 1776.
Notes:
[1] www.hopsewee.com
[2] Eldredge, Charles C., Barbara Babcock Millhouse, and Robert G. Workman. American Originals: Selections from Reynolda House, Museum of American Art. New York: Abbeville Press, 1990.
[3] Schiller, Joyce K. Reading Portraits Through Buttons and Bows. Winston-Salem, NC: Reynolda House Museum of American Art, 2001, p. 7.
ProvenanceFrom 1755 to 1968
Mr. Thomas Lynch, Sr. (1726-1776), South Carolina, painted by the artist for his wife (Elizabeth Allton, died c. 1755) in 1755; Mrs. John (Sabina Lynch) Bowman (1747-1812), by inheritance from father Thomas Lynch, Sr.; John Bowman Lynch (1778-1875, changed name from John Lynch Bowman), South Carolina and Tennessee, by gift from mother Sabina Bowman; Mrs. Paul (Sabina Lynch) Dismukes (1812-1844), by gift of father John Bowman Lynch; Mrs. John (Sarah Dismukes) McCrady (born c. 1840), by gift of mother Sabina Dismukes; Reverend Edward McCrady (born c.1868), by gift of mother Sarah McCrady; Edward McCrady (born c.1907), by gift of father Rev. Edward McCrady. [1]
1968
M. Knoedler & Co., Inc., New York, 1968. [2]
From 1969 to 1972
Barbara B. Millhouse, purchased from M. Knoedler & Co., Inc., New York on January 6, 1969. [3]
From 1972
Reynolda House Museum of American Art, Winston-Salem NC, given by Barbara B. Millhouse on October 31, 1972. [4]
Notes:
[1] See Bill of Sale, object file.
[2] See note 1.
[3] See note 1.
[4] See Deed of Gift, object file.
Exhibition History1968
American Portraits
M. Knoedler & Co., New York NY (10/9/1968-11/2/1968)
Cat. No. 2
1971
Reynolda House American Paintings
Hirschl and Adler Galleries, New York NY. (1/13/1971-1/31/1971)
Cat. No. 1
For Smith College Scholarship Benefit Fund.
1975-1976
The Face Of Liberty: Founders Of The United States
Amon Carter Museum, Fort Worth TX (12/1975-3/1976)
1990-1992
American Originals, Selections From Reynolda House Museum Of American Art
The American Federation of Arts:
Center for the Fine Arts, Miami FL (9/22/1990-11/18/1990)
Palm Springs Desert Museum, Palm Springs CA (12/16/1990-2/10/1991)
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York NY (3/6/1991-5/11/1991)
Memphis Brooks Museum of Art, Memphis TN (6/2/1991-7/28/1991)
Amon Carter Museum of Western Art, Fort Worth TX (8/17/1991-10/20/1991)
Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago IL (11/17/1991-1/12/1992)
The Gilcrease Museum, Tulsa, OK (3/1/1992-4/26/1992)
Cat. No. 1
2005
Vanguard Collecting: American Art at Reynolda House
Reynolda House Museum of American Art, Winston-Salem NC (4/2005-8/2005)
2006
Self/Image: Portraiture from Copley to Close
Reynolda House Museum of American Art, Winston-Salem NC (8/30/2006-12/31/2006)
2008-2009
Early American Portraits
Reynolda House Museum of American Art, Winston-Salem NC (5/13/2008-3/16/2009)
2017
Samuel F.B. Morse's Gallery of the Louvre and the Art of Invention
Reynolda House Museum of American Art (02/17/2017 - 06/04/2017)
Published ReferencesMorgan, John Hill. "Notes on Jeremiah Theus and His Portrait of Elizabeth Rothmahler" The Brooklyn Museum Quarterly XI (April 1924): 50.
Middleton, Margaret Simons. Jeremiah Theus, Colonial Artist Of Charles Town. 1935, 145.
Lassiter, Barbara B. Reynolda House American Paintings. New York: Hirschl and Adler Galleries, Inc., 1970.
Millhouse, Barbara B. and Robert Workman. American Originals. New York: Abbeville Press Publishers, 1990): 18-21.
Schiller, Joyce K. Reading Portraits Through Buttons And Bows. Winston-Salem, NC: Reynolda House, Museum of American Art, 2001: 6-7.
Wilson, R. "Art and Artists in Provincial South Carolina" Year Book. City of Charleston, S.C.: 1889, as reprinted in Half Forgotten By-Ways Of The Old South. (1928): 213.
Reynolda House Museum of American Art, Reynolda: Her Muses, Her Stories , with contributions by Martha R. Severens and David Park Curry (Winston-Salem, N.C.: Reynolda House Museum of American Art affiliated with Wake Forest University, 2017). pg. 132, 133, 196, 224
DepartmentAmerican Art
Mrs. Thomas Lynch
Artist
Jeremiah Thëus
(1716 - 1774)
Date1755
Mediumoil on canvas
DimensionsFrame: 37 1/2 x 32 1/2 in. (95.3 x 82.6 cm)
Image: 29 x 24 in. (73.7 x 61 cm)
Canvas: 30 1/8 x 24 15/16 in. (76.5 x 63.3 cm)
SignedTheus 1755
Credit LineGift of Barbara B. Millhouse
CopyrightPublic Domain
Object number1972.2.1
DescriptionThe daughter of a prominent South Carolina family, Elizabeth Allston married Thomas Lynch, another well-connected South Carolinian, in 1745. At age 17, she became the mistress of Hopsewee Plantation, where the Lynch family cultivated rice and indigo. [1] As was typical of southern plantations, Hopsewee was located on a river. The river ensured easy transport of the plantation’s crops to market, where indigo was much in demand as a dye for the woolen industry. Consequently, the Lynch family enjoyed considerable prosperity.Jeremiah Thëus, Charleston’s foremost portrait painter, often visited wealthy families at their plantations in order to execute commissions for portraits. It is possible that Thëus traveled to Hopsewee from Charleston in order to paint this portrait of the 27-year-old Mrs. Thomas Lynch, or perhaps that the artist executed the commission during a visit by the Lynches to Charleston. The painting shares much in common with other Thëus portraits: the attention to fine details of dress, the oval format, the lively palette. Thëus was not particularly talented at conveying his subjects’ personalities, but his attention to the elements that communicate wealth and status would have won him favor with most Charlestonians. Elizabeth’s rather bland expression might, in fact, have been interpreted by her contemporaries as elegant reserve.
The stiffness of Elizabeth’s figure may be attributed to the fact that Thëus borrowed the pose and costume details such as the nosegay and taffeta shawl from a mezzotint of about 1752 depicting the Duchess of Hamilton Brandon. [2] Copies of the mezzotint, after a painting by the English artist Francis Cotes, would have been available in the colonies. It was fairly common for artists such as Thëus to use mezzotints as sources for poses and costumes. Thëus’s subjects, rather than being disappointed that their portraits were “copies” of someone else, would have been flattered by the association with a person of distinction. Heightening the artificiality of the image is the fact that the dress is not typical of the eighteenth century; it is instead more typical of the seventeenth century and may in fact have been a costume Cotes had made for the original painting of the duchess. [3]
Elizabeth Allston Lynch died sometime around 1755, close to the time that Thëus painted this portrait. Although the cause of her death is unknown, it is certain that mortality rates in the South were high, exacerbated by climate-related illnesses such as malaria and dysentery. It is also possible that Elizabeth was weakened by births of three children in quick order: Sabina in 1747, Esther in 1748, and Thomas in 1749. In spite of the shortness of her life, her name does have a small place in history; her son Thomas Lynch, Jr. went on to sign the Declaration of Independence in 1776.
Notes:
[1] www.hopsewee.com
[2] Eldredge, Charles C., Barbara Babcock Millhouse, and Robert G. Workman. American Originals: Selections from Reynolda House, Museum of American Art. New York: Abbeville Press, 1990.
[3] Schiller, Joyce K. Reading Portraits Through Buttons and Bows. Winston-Salem, NC: Reynolda House Museum of American Art, 2001, p. 7.
ProvenanceFrom 1755 to 1968
Mr. Thomas Lynch, Sr. (1726-1776), South Carolina, painted by the artist for his wife (Elizabeth Allton, died c. 1755) in 1755; Mrs. John (Sabina Lynch) Bowman (1747-1812), by inheritance from father Thomas Lynch, Sr.; John Bowman Lynch (1778-1875, changed name from John Lynch Bowman), South Carolina and Tennessee, by gift from mother Sabina Bowman; Mrs. Paul (Sabina Lynch) Dismukes (1812-1844), by gift of father John Bowman Lynch; Mrs. John (Sarah Dismukes) McCrady (born c. 1840), by gift of mother Sabina Dismukes; Reverend Edward McCrady (born c.1868), by gift of mother Sarah McCrady; Edward McCrady (born c.1907), by gift of father Rev. Edward McCrady. [1]
1968
M. Knoedler & Co., Inc., New York, 1968. [2]
From 1969 to 1972
Barbara B. Millhouse, purchased from M. Knoedler & Co., Inc., New York on January 6, 1969. [3]
From 1972
Reynolda House Museum of American Art, Winston-Salem NC, given by Barbara B. Millhouse on October 31, 1972. [4]
Notes:
[1] See Bill of Sale, object file.
[2] See note 1.
[3] See note 1.
[4] See Deed of Gift, object file.
Exhibition History1968
American Portraits
M. Knoedler & Co., New York NY (10/9/1968-11/2/1968)
Cat. No. 2
1971
Reynolda House American Paintings
Hirschl and Adler Galleries, New York NY. (1/13/1971-1/31/1971)
Cat. No. 1
For Smith College Scholarship Benefit Fund.
1975-1976
The Face Of Liberty: Founders Of The United States
Amon Carter Museum, Fort Worth TX (12/1975-3/1976)
1990-1992
American Originals, Selections From Reynolda House Museum Of American Art
The American Federation of Arts:
Center for the Fine Arts, Miami FL (9/22/1990-11/18/1990)
Palm Springs Desert Museum, Palm Springs CA (12/16/1990-2/10/1991)
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York NY (3/6/1991-5/11/1991)
Memphis Brooks Museum of Art, Memphis TN (6/2/1991-7/28/1991)
Amon Carter Museum of Western Art, Fort Worth TX (8/17/1991-10/20/1991)
Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago IL (11/17/1991-1/12/1992)
The Gilcrease Museum, Tulsa, OK (3/1/1992-4/26/1992)
Cat. No. 1
2005
Vanguard Collecting: American Art at Reynolda House
Reynolda House Museum of American Art, Winston-Salem NC (4/2005-8/2005)
2006
Self/Image: Portraiture from Copley to Close
Reynolda House Museum of American Art, Winston-Salem NC (8/30/2006-12/31/2006)
2008-2009
Early American Portraits
Reynolda House Museum of American Art, Winston-Salem NC (5/13/2008-3/16/2009)
2017
Samuel F.B. Morse's Gallery of the Louvre and the Art of Invention
Reynolda House Museum of American Art (02/17/2017 - 06/04/2017)
Published ReferencesMorgan, John Hill. "Notes on Jeremiah Theus and His Portrait of Elizabeth Rothmahler" The Brooklyn Museum Quarterly XI (April 1924): 50.
Middleton, Margaret Simons. Jeremiah Theus, Colonial Artist Of Charles Town. 1935, 145.
Lassiter, Barbara B. Reynolda House American Paintings. New York: Hirschl and Adler Galleries, Inc., 1970.
Millhouse, Barbara B. and Robert Workman. American Originals. New York: Abbeville Press Publishers, 1990): 18-21.
Schiller, Joyce K. Reading Portraits Through Buttons And Bows. Winston-Salem, NC: Reynolda House, Museum of American Art, 2001: 6-7.
Wilson, R. "Art and Artists in Provincial South Carolina" Year Book. City of Charleston, S.C.: 1889, as reprinted in Half Forgotten By-Ways Of The Old South. (1928): 213.
Reynolda House Museum of American Art, Reynolda: Her Muses, Her Stories , with contributions by Martha R. Severens and David Park Curry (Winston-Salem, N.C.: Reynolda House Museum of American Art affiliated with Wake Forest University, 2017). pg. 132, 133, 196, 224
Status
On viewCollections
circa 1765