Photo Model Artist: American Women 1700-1750

Showing posts with label American Women 1700-1750. Show all posts

1733 - 18th-Century American Women - Tea Saves a Marriage

This painting is the 1758 John Potter Overmantle at the Newport Historical Society in Rhode Island. John Potter & his family are taking tea with a young male house slave attending them.

This story about the miraculous virtues of tea was printed in the British American colonies in 1733. Tea was introduced into the colonies in 1714. This hilarious gentle woman's story from an early Pennslyvania newspaper has it all. It tells of the 18th century woman having to give all her money to her husband when they marry, but holding a little back, just in case. He drinks & gambles & pays little attention to his business. She uses tea to lure him back & build a happy home. She is a one woman consumer revolution!
Pennsylvania Gazette May 31, 1733 (From the Rhode Island Gazette)

THE TEA TABLE

SIR,

I am an honest Tradesman's only Daughter, and some Years ago marry'd a Tradesman of his Town. You will believe I lov'd him, when I inform you, that he had nothing to depend on But his Trade, and I was Owner of an Estate, left to me by my Father, richly worth, at that Time of Day, near a Thousand Pounds, part of which consisted of a good House well furnish'd.

My Husband was before Marriage something addicted to Drinking & Gaming, which I did not very well like, but had the Vanity to think I could cure him by good Management of his Temper, which I thought I pretty well knew.

The usual Diversions of a Wedding being over, we did well for about six Months. My Husband was careful and diligent: His Affairs in the Shop went on smoothly and prosperously, and my Kitchen (tho' I say it) was as well manag'd as any in our Town.

But, to my Grief, I afterwards found, that my Husband renew'd his Acquaintance with his old Companions, and needed no great In

vitation to a Tavern.

His Shop was left often to the Care (or rather Carelessness) of his Apprentices, and at some Times when his Presence was most wanted in it. They spoilt as much Work as they did, when they happen'd not to stand still for want of Work laid out for them.

His Customers, on this Account, had almost all left him, and yet I was urg'd, Time after Time, to call in my Money at Interest to buy Stuff, as he said. I call'd all in that he knew was out, but reserv'd the rest for my own Support; apprehending that this way of buying Stuff would bring me to Beggary.

After most of the Money call'd in was spent upon Stuff, my best Household Goods were sold to buy Stuff too; and it came to that Pass at last we could scarcely get any thing to stuff our Bellys, or cloath our Backs.

As it is not the Business of a Woman to command, I began, in this Extremity, to project Relief. I knew he lov'd Gaming, and to please him this Way, I bought a Wheel of Fortune, a Snake Board, a Back Gammon Table, a Set of Nine Pins, and had a good Alley made in the Garden. If I could have afforded it, I would have purchas'd a Shuffle Board and Billiard Table; for I had two large Rooms stripp'd of all their Furniture to buy St

uff, where they might have been very conveniently plac'd.

However, I took a Game now and then with my Husband, either on the Wheel of Fortune, at Cards, or some other Game I had Materials for; which had this good Effect, that it kept him something more at home than formerly.

Yet strong Liquor he must have, and for this he went to the Taverns. To cure him effectually of rambling abroad, I concluded to buy a Stock of Liquors which pleas'd him best, and keep them in the House for him.

This is the 1755 painting by John Greenwood of Sea Captains Carousing in Surinam. It is one of Greenwood's best known works, a drunken scene featuring various prominent Rhode Island merchants, including Declaration of Independence signatory Stephen Hopkins, Governor Joseph Wanton, Admiral Esek Hopkins, and Governor Nicholas Cooke.

But happily for me, an old Woman to whom I communicated my Design, inform'd me, that she heard Madam Such a One say, Tea was as spiricus, and more wholesome than any strong Drink, be it Punch, be it Wine, be it Cyder, be it Brandy, be it Rum, be it what it will.

This Information of my Neighbour alter'd my Resolution, and I bought a Tea Table, with its Appurtenances of Earthen, Bath Metal, and Nine Canisters of Tea. I confess my covetous Humour and Unaquaintance with Tea had like to have ruin'd me: For the Cups were so small, and the Tea so weak my Husband said it was drinking Water by Drops.

Staffordshire Red Stoneware Teapot c 1740-50

I therefore bought a large home made Tea Table, and a Set of Earthen Plates and Punch Bowls; one of which Bowls (by the Direction of a Gentlewoman in the Neighbourhood) I fill'd with good strong Te

a for my Husband, who then thought it was something like Drinking.

By Degrees his Desire of strong Liquor wholly left him, and he became an Admirer of Tea; but I found the Love of it did not grow upon him so fast as to oblige me to buy larger Bowls. In a Months Time he was contented with the small Tea Table and Cups and Saucers.

By his Consent I sold the Punch Bowls to a Tavern Keeper, and (to my great Comfort) he has not seen them since. His Inclination to Gaming abating, I burnt my Nine Pins, Frame and all, and dispos'd of all the rest of my Gaming Tools, except the Back Gammon Table, on which we sometimes take a Game in an Evening for a Cup of Tea in the Morning.

This Way of Living has made so great an Alteration in my Husband, that he does not require the tenth Part of the Stuff he us'd to do, and yet does more Work, gets more Money, and is in good Credit with his Neighbours.

The Money and Time he would have spent in Drinking and Gaming, had he not left them off, has, within these two Years past, by my Reckoning, refurnish'

d my two great Rooms, supply'd the Tea Table, and purchas'd two good Milch Cows.

So that besides our having always Milk enough and to spare, for the Family, (and other Wholesome Provisions) I am never at a loss for Cream and Butter with my Tea; and in short, as the saying is, we live together as happy as the Days are long.

I am Sir, Yours, Patience Teacraft.

18th-Century American Women by John Wollaston 1710-1775

c 1749 John Wollaston (American colonial era painter, 1710-1775) Lucy Parry, Wife of Admiral Parry

English rococo portraitist John Wollaston arrived in New York from England in 1749, where he worked for 2 years. It seems that Wollaston came across the Atlantic specifically to paint portraits and then to return to England. A contemporary label on his 1751 portrait of colonial William Smith, Jr. refers to "Johnannes Wollaston Londoniensis." Little is know about his training in England. Charles Willson Peale wrote to his son Rembrandt in 1812, that Wollaston trained in London with a painter of drapery. Wollaston left England just as Neoclassicism, as a reaction against baroque and rococo styles, was spreading throughout England and Europe.

1745-1748 John Wollaston (American colonial era painter, 1710-1775) Portrait of a Lady

He traveled south from New York to paint briefly in Philadelphia in 1752; and, by the winter of 1753, Wollaston moved south to Annapolis, Maryland, and then on to Virginia by 1755. In Annapolis, he painted at least 60 portraits of Marylanders.

1749-52 John Wollaston (American colonial era painter, 1710-1775) Portrait of a Woman

Wollaston's rococo portraits were a hit in Maryland's capital of Annapolis. The March 15, 1753, Maryland Gazette carried the following poem honoring Wollaston.
"On Seeing Mr. Wollaston’s Pictures, in Annapolis," by a Dr. T. T.

Behold the wond’rous Power of Art!
That mocks devouring Time and Death,
Can Nature’s ev’ry Charm impart;
And make the lifeless Canvas breathe.

1749 John Wollaston (American colonial era painter, 1710-1775) Margaret Tudor (Mrs. Richard Nicholls)

In the Chesapeake, he painted the families of many plantation-owning gentry. He returned to the city-life of Philadelphia in 1758, seeking more commissions. Some suggest that he may have sailed for the West Indies from Philadelphia. In the fall of 1765, he reappeared in the bustling, high-style port city of Charleston, South Carolina, where he painted at least 17 portraits. Although there is no written record of his associations, Wollaston may have known younger artsts Robert Feke, John Hesselius, and perhaps Benjamine West. He may have known Jeremiah Theus, while he was painting in Charleston.

1749-52 John Wollaston (American colonial era painter, 1710-1775) Catherine Harris Smith (Mrs. Ebenezer Pemberton)

On January 19, 1767, Wollaston, announced his plans to leave Charleston to return to England, in the South Carolina Gazette:

"The Subscriber intending for England in a few weeks, takes this public method of returning thanks, to all gentlemen and ladies who have been so good to employ him: Those who may have any demands upon him, are desired to bring in their accounts; and of those who are indebted to him he requests the favour they will discharge the same."

1749-1752 John Wollaston (American colonial era painter, 1710-1775) Mrs Joseph Reade

1749-1752 John Wollaston (American colonial era painter, 1710-1775) Mary Walton Morris

1750 John Wollaston (American colonial era painter, 1710-1775) Experience Johnson Mrs Samuel Gouverneur

1750 John Wollaston (American colonial era painter, 1710-1775) Rachel Levy (Mrs Isaac Mendes Seixas) 1719-1797

1750s John Wollaston (American colonial era painter, 1710-1775) Ann Langdon (Mrs Richard Ayscough)

1750s John Wollaston (American colonial era painter, 1710-1775) Anne Carter Harrison Randolph (c. 1724-after 1793)

1750s John Wollaston (American colonial era painter, 1710-1775) Mary Bryant (Mrs William Peartree)

1750s John Wollaston (American colonial era painter, 1710-1775) Mary Meade Walker

1750s John Wollaston (American Colonial Era artist, 1733-1767) Mrs James Alexander c 1749-60

1751 John Wollaston (American colonial era painter, 1710-1775) Mrs Margaret Chew Bradley

1752 John Wollaston (American colonial era painter, 1710-1775) Dorothy Willing (Mrs. Walter Stirling)

1752 John Wollaston (American colonial era painter, 1710-1775) Mrs Philip Livingston

1752 John Wollaston (American colonial era painter, 1710-1775) Mrs Pontius Stelle

1753-54 John Wollaston (American colonial era painter, 1710-1775) Mrs Daniel Carroll II (1710-1775) & Daniel Carroll (1752-1790)

1754 John Wollaston (American colonial era painter, 1710-1775) Elizabeth Tasker (Mrs Christopher Lowndes)

1754 John Wollaston (American colonial era painter, 1710-1775) Mrs Charles Carroll

1755 John Wollaston (American colonial era painter, 1710-1775) Elizabeth Harrison (Mrs Peyton Randolph)

1756 John Wollaston (American colonial era painter, 1710-1775) Mrs William Allen

1757 John Wollaston (American colonial era painter, 1710-1775) Martha Dandridge (Daniel Parke Custis) (Mrs George Washington)

1758 John Wollaston (American colonial era painter, 1710-1775) Mary Willing (Mrs William Byrd III)

1760 John Wollaston (American colonial era painter, 1710-1775) Mary Carroll Mrs Charles Carroll of Duddington

1765 John Wollaston (American colonial era painter, 1710-1775) Mary Ross Beale.

1765-67 John Wollaston (American colonial era painter, 1710-1775) Lady in Gold Dress from Charleston, South Carolina

1765-67 John Wollaston (American colonial era painter, 1710-1775) Mary Ross Mrs John Beale

John Wollaston (American colonial era painter, 1710-1775) Frances Tasker (Mrs Robert Carter)

John Wollaston (American colonial era painter, 1710-1775) Portrait of a Lady

1767 John Wollaston (American colonial era painter, 1710-1775) Ann Gibbes Mrs Edward Thomas
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18th-Century American Women by Joseph Badger 1708-1765

c. 1749 Joseph Badger (American colonial era artist, 1708-1765) Elizabeth Campbell (Mrs. William Foye)

1746 Joseph Badger (American colonial era artist, 1708-1765) Eliz Storer (Mrs. Isaac Smith).

Joseph Badger was born on March 14, 1707/8, in Charlestown, Massachusetts, the 6th of 9 children of Mercy Kettell and her husband Stephen Badger, a tailor. Joseph Badger died in Boston on May 11, 1765.

1750 Joseph Badger (American colonial era artist, 1708-1765) Anna Porter (Mrs. Nathaniel Brown).

Badger began his career as a house painter and glazier and moved his growing family to Boston in 1733. It is not clear how he evolved into portrait painting, but he probably used a few imported English prints as sources for his compositions, although his poses and formats are similar.

1755 Joseph Badger (American colonial era artist, 1708-1765) Eleanor Wyer (Mrs. Isaac Foster)

In Boston, Badger lived in the same neighborhood with Scottish-born portriatist John Smibert (1688–1751), who had emigrated from London in 1728, and John Singleton Copley's stepfather, London artist and engraver Peter Pelham ( (1695-1751), who had arrived in Boston a few years earlier than Smibert. And of course, as you have already guessed, both artists sold prints out of their shops introducing poses and costumes from English mezzotints in the baroque depictions of Godfrey Kneller (1646–1723) and Peter Lely (1618–1680) and in the updated rococo style of Thomas Hudson (1701–1779) to local artists and townsfolk.

1758 Joseph Badger (American colonial era artist, 1708-1765) Hannah Minnot (Mrs. Samuel Moody ).

Artist Thomas Johnston (1708–1767), who painted portraits, furniture & coats of arms; engraved maps, music, bookplates, & clock faces; and even cut gravestones, also lived nearby. Johnston trained artist John Greenwood (1727–1792), who was his Boston apprentice from 1741 to 1745.

1759 Joseph Badger (American colonial era artist, 1708-1765) Hannah Upham (Mrs. John Haskins).

Additionally, Badger would have known artist Robert Feke (c 1708–1751) and Joseph Blackburn (fl 1754–1763), who arrived in Boston around 1754, just after Copley's stepfather died.

1760 Joseph Badger (American colonial era artist, 1708-1765) Mrs. Thomas Shippard.

Apparently paint ran through the Badger family veins. Two of Badger's sons moved to Charleston after his death, advertising themselves as painters in the South-Carolina Gazette, in Charleston, December 8, 1766. Joseph Badger, Jr. and his brother William moved to Charleston in 1766, announcing that "they propose to carry on their business of painting and glazing in all their branches." A Daniel Badger, perhaps related to the elder Joseph, had advertised himself as a painter in the same newspaper on December 6, 1735, just 2 years after Joseph Badger had settled in Boston.