Joseph Blackburn, also known as Jonathan Blackburn, (died 1787 [1] ) was an English portrait painter who worked mainly in Bermuda and in colonial America. His notable works include portraits of Hugh Jones (circa 1777) and Colonel Theodore Atkinson (circa 1760).
He seems to have been the son of a painter, and to have had a studio in Boston from 1755 until 1765; among his patrons were many important early American families, including the Apthorps, Amorys, Bulfinches, Lowells, Ewings, Saltonstalls, Winthrops, Winslows and Otises of Boston. Blackburn spent time in Bermuda (1752–1753), Newport (1754), Boston (1755–1758), and Portsmouth (1758–1762). In late 1763 he returned to London and painted portraits in southwestern England, Wales, and Dublin between 1768 and 1777. [2] Approximately one hundred fifty of Blackburn's portraits survive. [2] He excelled at painting textiles (i.e., representing the shimmer of silks, the texture of laces, and the folds of fabrics). [2]
Some of his portraits are in the possession of the public library of Lexington, Massachusetts, and of the Massachusetts Historical Society, but most of them are privately owned and are scattered over the country, the majority being in Boston. One portrait, of Elizabeth Browne Rogers completed in 1761, is part of the permanent American art collection at Reynolda House Museum of American Art located in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.
John Singleton Copley was Blackburn's pupil, and it is said that he finally left his studio in Boston, through jealousy of Copley's superior success. His pictures were long attributed to Copley. [3] [4]
"Now, thanks to evidence found within records held in our collections, we are able to confirm that Joseph Blackburn lived and died in the city of Worcester. He and his family lived in Broad Street in the parish of St. Nicholas. The exact date they moved there is unclear, but he certainly is a resident in 1768. They also leased properties around St. Martins Gate in the city, including The White Horse pub. Joseph inherited the lease for the properties after his father, Joseph Blackburn, gentleman, of Kinfare, (now Kinver), Staffordshire, and possibly his aunt, Henrietta Blackburn of Worcester died in 1759.
"The 1759 will of Henrietta mentions Joseph’s wife Mary and their two daughters, Henrietta and Elizabeth. His daughters both married local men: Henrietta to William Hill and Elizabeth to George Squire, but both women appear to have died without children. ..."
Art historian Lawrence Park authored, and the American Antiquarian Society published, the first biographical and critical study of Blackburn in 1923, restoring this long-overlooked artist to the attention of scholars and connoisseurs. [5]
There is a degree of confusion about the dates of birth and death of Blackburn. The most common suggestion for year of death is 1778 (see for instance the Encyclopædia Britannica and the American Artists Bluebook ) whereas Microsoft Encarta suggests 1774. [6] 1730 is usually posited as the year of birth but it is at best an estimate.
Some sources still give 1700–1765 as Blackburn's years. These most likely derive from the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica, published prior to Lawrence Park's review, "Joseph Blackburn – Portrait Painter", printed in the Proceedings of the American Antiquarian Society in 1922, which established many of the known works of Blackburn. [7]
In 2015 Worcestershire Archives announced that they had located details of Blackburn's burial in Worcester in 1787. [1]
Selected artworks
| Year | Title | Image | Dimensions | Collection | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1760 | Portrait of Colonel Theodore Atkinson, oil on canvas |  view | 50 × 40 1⁄4 in. (127.0 × 102.2 cm.) [also reported as 47 1⁄2 × 39 1⁄4 in. (120.7 × 99.7 cm.)] | Worcester Art Museum, Worcester, Massachusetts | Subject: lived 1697–1779; husband of Hannah Wentworth (1700-1769); colonial chief justice of New Hampshire Superior Court. IAP 80970127 and IAP 23570023 |
| 1760 | Benning Wentworth , oil on canvas |  | H-93.5 W-58 inches | New Hampshire Historical Society, Concord, New Hampshire | Subject: lived 1696–1770, governor of New Hampshire, Bennington, Vermont is named after him. |
| 1760 | Portrait of Mrs. Theodore Atkinson, oil on canvas |  view | 49 1⁄8 × 39 1⁄8 in. (124.8 × 99.4 cm.) | Worcester Art Museum, Worcester, Massachusetts (listed in collection of Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, Ohio) | Subject: Hannah Wentworth (1700-1769); sister of first royal governor of New Hampshire; wife of Colonel Theodore Atkinson (colonial chief justice of New Hampshire Superior Court). IAP 41000005 |
| 1761 | Thomas Wentworth , oil on canvas |  | San Diego Museum of Art, San Diego, California | Subject: Thomas Wentworth (1740-1768) | |
| 1761 | Portrait of Elizabeth Browne Rogers, oil on canvas |  view | 50 × 40 in. (127.0 × 101.6 cm.) | Reynolda House Museum of American Art, Winston-Salem, North Carolina | Subject: Elizabeth Browne (1741-1813); youngest daughter of Rev. Arthur Browne (1699-1773; Anglican rector of socially prominent Queen's Chapel in Portsmouth, New Hampshire); wife of Robert Rogers (1731–1795; well-known French and Indian War hero of Rogers' Rangers fame; m. 1761); later wife of John Roche (sea captain, fur-trader). [8] IAP 80960021 and IAP 40010032 |
| 1762 | Portrait of Ann Saltonstall, oil |  | IAP 71930550 | ||
| 1762 | Portrait of Anne Saltonstall, oil on canvas |  | 30 1⁄2 × 24 7⁄8 in. (127.6 × 102.6 cm.) | San Antonio Museum of Art, San Antonio, Texas | IAP 67930001 |
| 1762 | Portrait of Samuel Cutts (1762-1763), oil on canvas |  view | 50 1⁄4 × 40 3⁄8 in. (127.6 × 102.6 cm.) | Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City | Subject: lived 1726–1801. IAP 71560037 |
| 1762 | Portrait of Mrs. Samuel Cutts (1762-1763), oil on canvas |  view | 50 1⁄4 × 40 1⁄2 in. (127.6 × 102.9 cm.) | Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City | Subject: lived 1735–1812. IAP 71560038 |
| 1764 | Portrait of Hugh Jones, last known dated portrait by this artist [2] |  | 50 9⁄16 × 40 1⁄4 in. (128.4 × 102.2 cm.) | Worcester Art Museum, Worcester, Massachusetts | IAP 23570266 |
Visual art of the United States or American art is visual art made in the United States or by U.S. artists. Before colonization, there were many flourishing traditions of Native American art, and where the Spanish colonized Spanish Colonial architecture and the accompanying styles in other media were quickly in place. Early colonial art on the East Coast initially relied on artists from Europe, with John White the earliest example. In the late 18th and early 19th centuries, artists primarily painted portraits, and some landscapes in a style based mainly on English painting. Furniture-makers imitating English styles and similar craftsmen were also established in the major cities, but in the English colonies, locally made pottery remained resolutely utilitarian until the 19th century, with fancy products imported.
John Singleton Copley was an Anglo-American painter, active in both colonial America and England. He was probably born in Boston, Province of Massachusetts Bay, to Richard and Mary Singleton Copley, both Anglo-Irish. After becoming well-established as a portrait painter of the wealthy in colonial New England, he moved to London in 1774, never returning to America. In London, he met considerable success as a portraitist for the next two decades, and also painted a number of large history paintings, which were innovative in their readiness to depict modern subjects and modern dress. His later years were less successful, and he died heavily in debt. He was father of John Copley, 1st Baron Lyndhurst.
Gilbert Stuart was an American painter born in the Rhode Island Colony who is widely considered one of America's foremost portraitists. His best-known work is an unfinished portrait of George Washington, begun in 1796, which is usually referred to as the Athenaeum Portrait. Stuart retained the original and used it to paint scores of copies that were commissioned by patrons in America and abroad. The image of George Washington featured in the painting has appeared on the United States one-dollar bill for more than a century and on various postage stamps of the 19th century and early 20th century.
John Smibert was a Scottish-born painter, regarded as the first academically trained artist to live and work regularly in British America.
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Wilton Lockwood was an American artist born in Wilton, Connecticut.
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Peter Pelham was an American portrait painter and engraver, born in England.
Henry Pelham was an American painter, engraver, and cartographer active during the late 18th century. Pelham's many illuminating letters, especially to his half-brother John Singleton Copley, provide an important contemporary perspective of the events of the American Revolution.
John Greenwood Sr. (1727–1792) was an early American portrait painter, engraver and auctioneer.
Joseph Badger was a portrait artist in Boston, Massachusetts, in the 18th century. He was born in Charlestown, Massachusetts, to tailor Stephen Badger and Mercy Kettell. He "began his career as a house-painter and glazier, and ... throughout his life continued this work, besides painting signs, hatchments and other heraldic devices, in order to eke out a livelihood when orders for portraits slackened." In 1731 he married Katharine Felch; they moved to Boston around 1733. He was a member of the Brattle Street Church. He died in Boston on May 11, 1765, when "on Saturday last one Mr. Badger, of this Town, Painter, was taken with an Apoplectic Fit as he was walking in his Garden, and expired in a few Minutes after." Works by Badger are in the collections of the Worcester Art Museum, the Museum of Fine Arts Boston, and Historic New England's Phillips House, Salem, Mass. While respected in his own time, subsequent scholars and connoisseurs largely overlooked Badger's significance until Lawrence Park wrote a book about him in 1918.
Joseph Barrell (1739–1804) was a merchant in Boston, Massachusetts, in the 18th century. During the American Revolution, he owned ships commissioned as privateers, such as the Vengeance, ca.1779. In 1792, Barrell was "elected to the board" of Massachusetts branch of the newly established Bank of the United States, along with "George Cabot, Jonathan Mason Jr., ... and Fisher Ames."
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A Boy with a Flying Squirrel (Henry Pelham), or Henry Pelham (Boy with a Squirrel), is a 1765 painting by the American-born painter John Singleton Copley. It depicts Copley's teenaged half-brother Henry Pelham with a pet flying squirrel, a creature commonly found in colonial American portraits as a symbol of the sitter's refinement. Painted while Copley was a Boston-based portraitist aspiring to be recognized by his European contemporaries, the work was brought to London for a 1766 exhibition. There, it was met with overall praise from artists like Joshua Reynolds, who nonetheless criticized Copley's minuteness. Later historians and critics assessed the painting as a pivotal work in both Copley's career and the history of American art. The work was featured in exhibitions at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and the National Gallery of Art. As of 2023, it is held by the former.
Lawrence Park was an American art historian, architect, and genealogist who authored pioneering critical and biographical studies of portrait painters Gilbert Stuart, Joseph Badger, and Joseph Blackburn, active during the colonial and early federal periods of the United States. Park's four-volume treatise on Stuart was published posthumously in 1926. Park's papers are held at the Winterthur Library and the Frick Art Reference Library.
1787 July 11 Joseph Blackburn Source: register of St. Nicholas, 1787 (reference 852 Worcester St. Nicholas BA3790/1b)
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