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Portrait of Daniel Webster (after F. DeBourg Richards)
after 18468 9/16 x 6 1/4 in. (21.7 x 15.8 cm)
George T. Deming
United States (Wellsboro, Pennsylvania, 1868 - 1948, Alameda, California)
Object Type:
Painting
Medium and Support:
Oil on cardboard
Credit Line:
Marion Stratton Gould Fund
Accession Number:
1948.52
Location: Not currently on view
Orator, lawyer, statesman, and senator Daniel Webster (1782–1852) was the subject of many portraits, but none more charming than this one, informally titled Dan. Information on the back says the painting was copied from an engraving, which was no doubt itself a copy of an 1840s daguerreotype by F. DeBourg Richards.
Chief curator Marjorie Searl has determined that the original attribution to G. K. Merrick is incorrect. Markings on the back of the portrait were misleading; the signature for Merrick, an attorney in Wellsboro, PA, probably indicated ownership. Another inscription, “painted from an engraving by George Deming, Wellsboro, Pennsylvania,” most likely led to the interpretation that Deming was the engraver and Merrick was the painter. Thanks to the internet and Ancestry.com, we can now safely say that Deming was the painter, and we can speculate that Merrick purchased it from him.
[Label text from It Came From the Vault exhibition, 2013]
Chief curator Marjorie Searl has determined that the original attribution to G. K. Merrick is incorrect. Markings on the back of the portrait were misleading; the signature for Merrick, an attorney in Wellsboro, PA, probably indicated ownership. Another inscription, “painted from an engraving by George Deming, Wellsboro, Pennsylvania,” most likely led to the interpretation that Deming was the engraver and Merrick was the painter. Thanks to the internet and Ancestry.com, we can now safely say that Deming was the painter, and we can speculate that Merrick purchased it from him.
[Label text from It Came From the Vault exhibition, 2013]
Marks
Inscription, verso: Painted from an engraving by George Deming, Wellsboro, Pa. About 1850 Inscription, verso: G.W. Merrick
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Additional Images
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Exhibition List
This object was included in the following exhibitions:
- Focus on Faces 1967
- Collectors' Choice July-August 1978
- It Came from the Vault: Rarely Seen Works from MAG's Collection 3/17/2013 - 6/9/2013
Bibliography
This object has the following bibliographic references:
- Article Author: Newhall, Beaumont. Article Title: The Daguerreotype and the Painter. Article Scope: Article and reproduction. Magazine of Art. Washington, D.C.: American Federation of Arts Issue Date: November 1949. Page Number: 250
- Beaumont Newhall. The Daguerreotype in America. New York, NY: Dover Publications, Inc., 1976.
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Web Links
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It Came from the Vault exhibition catalogue
Entry for this artwork in the It Came from the Vault exhibition catalogue. The exhibition ran from March 17-June 9, 2013