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Judge and Mrs. Arthur Yates
ca. 184036 x 58 3/4 in. (91.4 x 149.2 cm)
M. M. Manchester
United States
Object Type:
Painting
Medium and Support:
Oil on canvas
Credit Line:
Gallery Purchase
Accession Number:
1941.30
Location: Currently on view
This grand portrait might have been a focal point in Judge and Mrs. Yates’s parlor. Judge Yates built the first steam saw mill in Tioga County, and was justice of the peace and postmaster.
Whether the furnishings, book, and clothing accurately depict the Yates’s possessions is impossible to say. They are meant to convince us of the pair’s position within the local gentry. Yards of satiny fabric held in place by a curtain holdback speak of luxury. Mrs. Yates’s jewelry, lace collar, cuffs and trimmed handkerchief, were the accoutrements of a lady of means. Judge Yates holds a book by English theologian William Paley entitled Natural Theology, a text regularly consulted by well-read gentlemen of the 19th century. While we know very little about Mr. Manchester, the artist, we can safely say that he was familiar with the grand tradition of portraiture that frequently placed subjects within ennobling, but not always authentic, settings.
[Gallery label text, 2002]
Whether the furnishings, book, and clothing accurately depict the Yates’s possessions is impossible to say. They are meant to convince us of the pair’s position within the local gentry. Yards of satiny fabric held in place by a curtain holdback speak of luxury. Mrs. Yates’s jewelry, lace collar, cuffs and trimmed handkerchief, were the accoutrements of a lady of means. Judge Yates holds a book by English theologian William Paley entitled Natural Theology, a text regularly consulted by well-read gentlemen of the 19th century. While we know very little about Mr. Manchester, the artist, we can safely say that he was familiar with the grand tradition of portraiture that frequently placed subjects within ennobling, but not always authentic, settings.
[Gallery label text, 2002]
Marks
Artist's signature, verso: M. M. Manchester/Artist./AD. 1840
Provenance
Commissioned by Judge Arthur Yates, Waverly, NY; to his son, Arthur Yates, Rochester, NY; to his wife, Virginia L. Yates, Rochester, NY; to her son, Frederick W. Yates, Rochester, NY; (estate of Frederick W. Yates); purchased by the Gallery in 1941
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Exhibition List
This object was included in the following exhibitions:
- Milestones in American Art Memorial Art Gallery 11/14/1941 - 12/7/1941
- Interiors Then & Now Memorial Art Gallery 10/13/1950 - 00/00/00
- Rediscovered Painters of Upstate New York, 1700-1875 New York State Historical Association 6/14/1958 - 2/28/1959
- Summer Exhibit of Permanent Collection 6/1/1959 - 8/31/1959
- The River: People and Places New York State Council on the Arts 4/22/1964 - 10/31/1964
- American Paintings from Collection of the Memorial Art Gallery Memorial Art Gallery 1/13/1967 - 5/14/1967
- A Scene of Adornment: Decoration in the Victorian Home The Strong 3/7/1975 - 4/13/1975
- Two Centuries of American Folk Painting Terra Museum of American Art 2/10/1985 - 4/21/1985
- Out of the Drawing Room 7/8/1995 - 9/17/1995
Bibliography
This object has the following bibliographic references:
- Article Scope: Reproduction only. Susan Dodge Peters, ed. Memorial Art Gallery: An Introduction to the Collection. New York, New York: Memorial Art Gallery in association with Hudson Hills Press, 1988.
- Memorial Art Gallery. Gallery Notes. Rochester, New York: Memorial Art Gallery, 1935-1995.
- Rochester Memorial Art Gallery of the University of Rochester Handbook. Rochester, NY: University of Rochester Press, 1961.
- Article Author: Junker, Patricia. Article Title: A Yates Family Portrait by M.M. Manchester: Materials for History. Article Scope: Article and reproduction. Porticus. Rochester, NY: Memorial Art Gallery Volume Number: 9 Issue Date: 1986. Page Number: 20-25, Figure Number: 1, p. 20; Fig. 2, p.22 (inscription)
- Article Author: Kuh, Katherine. Article Title: The River: Places and People. Article Scope: Article and reproduction. Art in America. New York, NY: Art in America Volume Number: 52, Issue Number: 2. Issue Date: April 1964. Page Number: 31, Figure Number: 31
- Article Scope: Mention. Elizabeth Brayer. Magnum Opus: The Story of the Memorial Art Gallery, 1913-1988. Rochester, NY: Memorial Art Gallery, 1988.
- Article Scope: Entry. Rediscovered Painters of Upstate New York, 1700-1875. Cooperstown, NY: New York State Historical Association, 1958.
- Article Scope: Entry. Art in New York State: The River, Places and People. Buffalo, NY: Albright-Knox Gallery, 1964.
- Art Gallery Magazine. Ivoryton, CT: Wm. C. Bendig
- Article Scope: Mention and reproduction. Marjorie Searl and Lu Harper. The Memorial Art Gallery: 100 Years. Rochester, NY: Memorial Art Gallery, 2013.
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About Face: Copley’s Portrait of a Colonial Silversmith
About Face: Copley’s Portrait of a Colonial Silversmith explores the lives and work of two artists within colonial Boston prior to the outbreak of the American Revolution: painter John Singleton Copley and silversmith Nathaniel Hurd. In addition to focusing upon paintings by Copley and silver pieces by Hurd, these works and other objects put into context the daily life of colonial Boston. Primary source documents (art works, objects, and written texts) provide students with a view of the experiences of men and women who were alive around the time of the American Revolution.
Students will develop critical looking and thinking skills as they gain experience in interpreting historical documents; analyze different interpretations of a key political turning point in American history through the study of visual and written documents of the Boston Massacre; explore important social issues through portraiture.; and evaluate the colonial American economy through primary source documents, like Nathaniel Hurd’s Table of Conversions and a colonial coin.
Students will develop critical looking and thinking skills as they gain experience in interpreting historical documents; analyze different interpretations of a key political turning point in American history through the study of visual and written documents of the Boston Massacre; explore important social issues through portraiture.; and evaluate the colonial American economy through primary source documents, like Nathaniel Hurd’s Table of Conversions and a colonial coin.