1796

American Paintings and Sculpture


Edward Greene Malbone’s premature death at age twenty-nine cut short the brilliant career of a painter considered to be America’s most accomplished miniaturist. Primarily self-taught, his talent, charm, and artistic skill contributed to his rapid success as an itinerant artist. In 1796, Malbone recorded several posthumous portrait miniatures of Thomas Russell, such as this one, for family members who wished to preserve the sitter’s memory. Russell died almost three months before Malbone arrived in Boston; therefore, the miniaturist copied Russell’s likeness from an earlier oil painting by John Trumbull. The reverse of the portrait’s original housing features a blue glass oval and a piece of convex glass, with an inset containing a lock of the sitter’s hair.


The Boston-born Russell, owner of an extensive shipping and marine insurance business, made a fortune speculating in Continental money. He married three times and had seven children, including a daughter, Sarah (1948.259), whom Malbone also painted. In 1801 Malbone traveled to London, where he was influenced by the airy and elegant style of miniaturist Richard Cosway. Later that year he returned to Charleston, South Carolina, and began his most prolific period, traveling between Newport, Rhode Island, and Boston; Providence, Rhode Island; New York; Philadelphia; and Charleston. Malbone died of tuberculosis in May 1807.

Medium

Watercolor on ivory

Dimensions

2 5/8 × 2 in. (6.7 × 5.1 cm)

Credit Line

Lelia A. and John Hill Morgan, B.A. 1893, LL.B. 1896, M.A. (Hon.) 1929, Collection

Accession Number

1948.260

Culture
Period

19th century

Classification
Disclaimer

Note: This electronic record was created from historic documentation that does not necessarily reflect the Yale University Art Gallery’s complete or current knowledge about the object. Review and updating of records is ongoing.

Bibliography
  • Princeton University Art Museum, Record Princeton University Art Museum, 70 (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University, 2011), 66, fig. 14
  • Robin Jaffee Frank, Love and Loss: American Portrait and Mourning Miniatures (New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 2000), 175–84, 178–79, 182, 188, 325nn27, 28, 326nn31, 33, 37, 327nn38-40, ill.
  • Robin Jaffee Frank and Katherine G. Eirk, "Miniatures under the Microscope," in "Recent Projects and Issues in Conservation," special issue, Yale University Art Gallery Bulletin (1999), 64, fig. 2
Object copyright
Additional information

Object/Work type

lockets, miniatures (paintings), portraits

Subject

men

Signed

Signed and dated in red paint on backing paper "EG Malbone/[?]/July 1796"

Technical metadata and APIs

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