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Colonel Nathaniel Rochester
before 183130 x 25 in. (76.2 x 63.5 cm)
American artist
United States
John James Audubon
United States (Les Cayes, Santo Domingo [now Haiti], 1785 - 1851, New York, NY) Previous attribution
Object Type:
Painting
Medium and Support:
Oil on canvas
Credit Line:
Gift of Thomas J. Watson
Accession Number:
1934.1
Location: Currently on view
Long celebrated as our city’s founder, Nathaniel Rochester (1752–1831) was recently discovered to have bought and sold enslaved people while he lived in Maryland. Not only did Rochester buy and sell enslaved people in the South as a business venture, he continued to own and profit from the labor of enslaved individuals after moving north. In fact, he did so until New York State law made it impossible for him to continue in 1827. This information makes evident how insidious and enmeshed slavery was in the business life of the early nineteenth century, even in the northern states.
Many decades before Kodak gave us the snapshot, a portrait such as this one was a way for a privileged, white person of this period to capture their likeness for posterity. In comparison, the enslaved Black men, women, and children of Rochester’s household did not have their portraits painted. Their names, likenesses, and personal stories went largely unrecorded and most have not survived history—another example of the dehumanization of enslaved individuals during this period of American history.
[Gallery label text, 2021]
Many decades before Kodak gave us the snapshot, a portrait such as this one was a way for a privileged, white person of this period to capture their likeness for posterity. In comparison, the enslaved Black men, women, and children of Rochester’s household did not have their portraits painted. Their names, likenesses, and personal stories went largely unrecorded and most have not survived history—another example of the dehumanization of enslaved individuals during this period of American history.
[Gallery label text, 2021]
Marks
Inscription, verso: Nathaniel Rochester/painted by J. J. Audubon
Provenance
John Rochester (1746-1794), brother of the sitter, Westmoreland County, VA; to his daughter, Artemisia Rochester Logan (1787-1813), Boyle County, KY; to her daughter, Emilie Jane Logan (1807-1891), Boyle County, KY; Ehrich Galleries, New York, NY before 1924; purchased by Hiram Burlingham (1827-1880), New York, NY, before 1928; sold at his estate sale, American Art Association-Anderson Galleries, New York, NY, January 11, 1934; purchased at that sale by Chester Dale, New York, NY, 1934; purchased from him by Thomas J. Watson, New York, NY, 1934; his gift to the University of Rochester, Rochester, NY for the Gallery in 1934
Keywords
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Additional Images
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Exhibition List
This object was included in the following exhibitions:
- A Century of Rochester Interiors Memorial Art Gallery 5/15/1934 - 9/9/1934
- Life in America: A Special Loan Exhibition of Paintings 4/24/1939 - 10/29/1939
- Second Audubon Centennial Exhibition: Audubon as a Portrait Painter National Audubon Society 5/28/1951 - 7/15/1951
- Around the World in Rochester 2/8/1952 - 3/2/1952
- Summer Exhibit of Permanent Collection 6/1/1959 - 8/31/1959
- American Paintings from Collection of the Memorial Art Gallery Memorial Art Gallery 1/13/1967 - 5/14/1967
- Nathaniel Rochester Festival Central Trust Company 10/1/1982 - 10/2/1982
- Ken Aptekar: Eye Contact Memorial Art Gallery 2/16/2002 - 4/21/2002
Bibliography
This object has the following bibliographic references:
- Article Scope: Reproduction only. Rochester Memorial Art Gallery of the University of Rochester Handbook. Rochester, NY: University of Rochester Press, 1961.
- Democrat and Chronicle. Rochester, NY: Rochester Print Co.
- Article Title: Transfer of Portrait by Dale to Watson is Here Made Clear. Article Scope: Article. ARTnews. New York, New York: ARTnews Associates Volume Number: 32, Issue Number: 7. Issue Date: January 27, 1934. Page Number: 10
- Article Title: To Give Audubon Painting. Article Scope: Article. The New York Times. New York, NY: H.J. Raymond & Co Issue Date: Jan 19 1934. Page Number: 17
- Article Scope: Mention and reproduction. Elizabeth Brayer. Magnum Opus: The Story of the Memorial Art Gallery, 1913-1988. Rochester, NY: Memorial Art Gallery, 1988.
- Historic Brighton News. Brighton, NY: Historic Brighton
- Article Author: Forman, Edward R.. Article Title: Discovery of an Audubon Portrait of Col. Nathaniel Rochester. Article Scope: Article and reproduction. . Publication Fund Series. Rochester, NY: Rochester Historical Society Volume Number: VII Issue Date: 1928. Page Number: 1-5, Figure Number: frontispiece, verso shown on p.6
- Life in America: A Special Loan Exhibition of Paintings held during the period of the New York World's Fair. New York, NY: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1939.
- Second Audubon Centennial Exhibition: Audubon as a Portrait Painter. New York, NY: National Audubon Society, 1951.
- Paul S. Boyer. The Enduring Vision: A History of the American People. Lexington, MA: D. C. Heath and Company, 1990.
- Genesee Country Companion. Mumford, NY: Genesee Country Village & Museum
- Article Author: Comstock, Helen. Article Title: American Historical Portraits: The Burlingham Collection. Article Scope: Article. The Connoisseur. London, England: The Connoisseur Volume Number: 94, Issue Number: 305. Issue Date: July 1934. Page Number: 31-32, Figure Number: 37
- Article Title: Paintings Sold at Auction. Article Scope: Entry. American Art Annual. Washington, D.C.: The American Federation of the Arts Volume Number: 31 Issue Date: 1934. Page Number: 462
- Article Scope: Entry. Catalogue for the Burlingham Sale. New York, NY: American Art Association, Anderson Galleries, Inc., 1934.
- MAGazine. Rochester, NY: Memorial Art Gallery
- Annual Report. Rochester, NY: Memorial Art Gallery
- Times-Union. Rochester, NY: Gannett
- Article Scope: Mention and reproduction. Genesee Country Scrapbook. Rochester, NY: Rochester Historical Society Volume Number: XV Issue Date: June 1976.
- Article Author: Brown, Peter Ogden. Article Title: Unknown American Artist: Portrait of Colonel Nathaniel Rochester. Article Scope: Chapter and reproduction. Marjorie B. Searl, ed. Seeing America: painting and sculpture from the collection of the Memorial Art Gallery of the University of Rochester. Rochester, NY: Memorial Art Gallery, 2006. Page Number: 28-31
- Julian Hanley. From Longhouse to Log House: The Story of the Iroquois Indians and The Land They Lived In. Self published
- Warren Kling. America's First Boomtown - Rochester, NY: The Early Years and the Notables Who Shaped It. Rochester, NY: Rochester History Alive Publications
- Smith, Virginia Jeffrey. St. Luke's Church, Genesee Falls: Past and Future. Rochester, NY: Great Lakes Press Corp., 1967.
- Article Scope: Mention and reproduction. Marjorie Searl and Lu Harper. The Memorial Art Gallery: 100 Years. Rochester, NY: Memorial Art Gallery, 2013.
Portfolio List
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This object is a member of the following portfolios:
Web Links
See links to web pages and lesson plans
Seeing America Inservice
Materials from a teacher in-service presentation Spring 2008
Seeing America
Chapter on this portrait of Colonel Nathaniel Rochester, written by Peter Ogden Brown.
Nathaniel Rochester 1780-1810
Photo of Nathaniel Rochester from the Rochester Images Project, direct url http://photo.libraryweb.org/carlweb/jsp/DoSearch?databaseID=716&count=10&terms=383&index=z. An additional image of Colonel Nathaniel Rochester from the Rochester Images Project may be viewed at http://tinyurl.com/3mybodb.