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Lot Essay
In 1981, Theodore E. Stebbins, curator of American paintings at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, pronounced, “The Beardsley Limner was the most important portrait artist in America between John Singleton Copley and Gilbert Stuart” (cited in Heslip and Kellogg, p. 548, below). That this artist is deserving of such praise is evident in the portrait offered here. Elegantly poised, Jonathan Dix (1781-1828) sits in a green-painted Windsor chair, his fine suit and books signalling his prosperity and education. A masterful portrayal of youth during the early years of the Republic, this portrait speaks to the sitter’s accomplishments thus far and his aspirations for the future, a parallel to the burgeoning confidence of a young nation. The identity of the artist, named the Beardsley Limner after the portraits of Dr. Hezekiah and Elizabeth Davis Beardsley (c.1789) at Yale University Art Gallery, remains uncertain but the surviving portraits indicate that he or she worked in Massachusetts, Connecticut and New York from circa 1785 to 1800. The Beardsley Limner’s work was first identified by Nina Fletcher Little who in 1957 illustrated and discussed six portraits, including those of the Beardsleys, and by 1984, sixteen portraits were attributed to the same hand. At this time, Colleen Heslip and Helen Kellogg published an article asserting that pastellist Sarah Perkins (1771-1831) was the author of these remarkable paintings. While their arguments were based on both stylistic and circumstantial evidence, Perkins’ likenesses are all pastels whereas the Beardsley Limner is only known to have worked in oil. For this reason, and in addition to some debate on stylistic similarities, the Perkins attribution is not generally accepted by the institutions that own these works, including Yale University Art Gallery, Colonial Williamsburg and the National Gallery of Art (Nina Fletcher Little, “Little Known Connecticut Artists, 1790-1810,” Connecticut Historic al Society Bulletin (October 1957), pp. 97–128; Colleen Heslip and Helen Kellogg, “The Beardsley limner identified as Sarah Perkins,” The Magazine Antiques (September 1984), pp. 548-565); see also Mark D. Mitchell, “The Beardsleys and the Beardsley Limner: Beyond Likeness,” Americana Insights, online journal, available at americanainsights.com, accessed 15 December 2022).
The sons of Dr. Elijah (1747-1809) and Dorothy (Lynde) (1746-1837) Dix, Jonathan and his brothers Clarendon (1779-1811) and Alexander (1782-1809) were painted by the Beardsley Limner in about 1795, the year the family moved from Worcester to Watertown, Massachusetts. Each is individualized by props presumably reflecting their interests. Jonathan holds a chapbook, an inexpensive printed pamphlet often including instructional texts, with his fingers marking a page while two books lie nearby on a table. The impression created is one of studiousness, the sitter captured in the act of reading and with more volumes on hand. Clarendon holds a flute with and is positioned as if about the play the musical scores at his elbow while Alexander is outside, a bird perched on his forefinger (the portraits of the brothers are in the collections of Colonial Williamsburg and University of California, Berkeley Art Museum respectively). As Mark Mitchell has argued in his discussion of the Beardsley portraits, the artist includes carefully selected props and renders them in precise detail to convey key attributes of his sitters. Here, the books have not been identified, but the heraldic image on the chapbook suggests a specific text is referenced (Christine Skeeles Schloss, The Beardsley Limner and Some Contemporaries (1972), pp. 12-13, 27-28, 30-31, figs. 11-13; Mitchell, op. cit.).
The Dix portraits also show the evolution of the artist’s abilities. In her 1972 exhibition catalogue, Christine Skeeles Schloss notes that in comparison to the earlier works, the portrait of Jonathan Dix in particular shows a greater handling of spatial depth and, as seen in his fingers and the chapbook, “a noticeable improvement” in drawing skills. This development may have been due to increased exposure to the work of other artists. Schloss discusses a portrait of the Dix brothers’ mother, Dorothy, that was painted in about 1789 by Danish artist Christian Gullager and thus would have been in the family home at the time the boys sat for their portraits. In the portraits of Dorothy and Jonathan, the sitters’ left hands both have the ring finger tucked at an angle under the middle finger. This unusual detail suggests that the Beardsley Limner was aware of the earlier portrait and chose to emulate certain aspects. As has been noted, many of the sitters painted by the Beardsley Limner were associated with the medical profession and as Elijah Dix, the brothers’ father, was a doctor and druggist it is possible that the commission was instigated through Dr. Dix’s professional contacts. Another connection is the familial ties between the Dix and Wheeler families. About five years before the Dix portraits were painted, the Beardsley Limner executed full-length portraits of brothers Charles Adam and Joseph Wheeler. Their father, Elisha Wheeler (1749-1794), was the second cousin of Theophilus Wheeler (1764-1840), Elijah Dix’s brother-in-law and executor of his estate (Schloss, op. cit., pp. 13, 39, no. 21 (Dorothy’s portrait) and pp. 22-23, 25, nos. 4, 5 (the Wheeler portraits); see also Christie’s, New York, 19 January 2001, lot 155 and the National Gallery of Art, acc. no. 1953.5.57; ancestry.com, Massachusetts, U.S., Wills and Probate Records, 1635-1991, vol 107-108, 1809-1810 [database on-line], accessed 12 December 2022).
Dorothy Dix outlived her husband and all her children, including the three brothers discussed here, except her daughter, Mary (1776-1852), the wife of Thaddeus Mason Harris. Thus it is likely that all the Dix family portraits were inherited by Mary. While the portraits of Clarendon and Dorothy passed down to Mary’s great-grandson, Mason Dix Harris (1898-1986), those of Jonathan and Alexander appear to have followed a different line. In the twentieth century both were owned by Dix family descendants living in Ipswich, Massachusetts and were separated when they appeared on the art market in the late 1960s.
The sons of Dr. Elijah (1747-1809) and Dorothy (Lynde) (1746-1837) Dix, Jonathan and his brothers Clarendon (1779-1811) and Alexander (1782-1809) were painted by the Beardsley Limner in about 1795, the year the family moved from Worcester to Watertown, Massachusetts. Each is individualized by props presumably reflecting their interests. Jonathan holds a chapbook, an inexpensive printed pamphlet often including instructional texts, with his fingers marking a page while two books lie nearby on a table. The impression created is one of studiousness, the sitter captured in the act of reading and with more volumes on hand. Clarendon holds a flute with and is positioned as if about the play the musical scores at his elbow while Alexander is outside, a bird perched on his forefinger (the portraits of the brothers are in the collections of Colonial Williamsburg and University of California, Berkeley Art Museum respectively). As Mark Mitchell has argued in his discussion of the Beardsley portraits, the artist includes carefully selected props and renders them in precise detail to convey key attributes of his sitters. Here, the books have not been identified, but the heraldic image on the chapbook suggests a specific text is referenced (Christine Skeeles Schloss, The Beardsley Limner and Some Contemporaries (1972), pp. 12-13, 27-28, 30-31, figs. 11-13; Mitchell, op. cit.).
The Dix portraits also show the evolution of the artist’s abilities. In her 1972 exhibition catalogue, Christine Skeeles Schloss notes that in comparison to the earlier works, the portrait of Jonathan Dix in particular shows a greater handling of spatial depth and, as seen in his fingers and the chapbook, “a noticeable improvement” in drawing skills. This development may have been due to increased exposure to the work of other artists. Schloss discusses a portrait of the Dix brothers’ mother, Dorothy, that was painted in about 1789 by Danish artist Christian Gullager and thus would have been in the family home at the time the boys sat for their portraits. In the portraits of Dorothy and Jonathan, the sitters’ left hands both have the ring finger tucked at an angle under the middle finger. This unusual detail suggests that the Beardsley Limner was aware of the earlier portrait and chose to emulate certain aspects. As has been noted, many of the sitters painted by the Beardsley Limner were associated with the medical profession and as Elijah Dix, the brothers’ father, was a doctor and druggist it is possible that the commission was instigated through Dr. Dix’s professional contacts. Another connection is the familial ties between the Dix and Wheeler families. About five years before the Dix portraits were painted, the Beardsley Limner executed full-length portraits of brothers Charles Adam and Joseph Wheeler. Their father, Elisha Wheeler (1749-1794), was the second cousin of Theophilus Wheeler (1764-1840), Elijah Dix’s brother-in-law and executor of his estate (Schloss, op. cit., pp. 13, 39, no. 21 (Dorothy’s portrait) and pp. 22-23, 25, nos. 4, 5 (the Wheeler portraits); see also Christie’s, New York, 19 January 2001, lot 155 and the National Gallery of Art, acc. no. 1953.5.57; ancestry.com, Massachusetts, U.S., Wills and Probate Records, 1635-1991, vol 107-108, 1809-1810 [database on-line], accessed 12 December 2022).
Dorothy Dix outlived her husband and all her children, including the three brothers discussed here, except her daughter, Mary (1776-1852), the wife of Thaddeus Mason Harris. Thus it is likely that all the Dix family portraits were inherited by Mary. While the portraits of Clarendon and Dorothy passed down to Mary’s great-grandson, Mason Dix Harris (1898-1986), those of Jonathan and Alexander appear to have followed a different line. In the twentieth century both were owned by Dix family descendants living in Ipswich, Massachusetts and were separated when they appeared on the art market in the late 1960s.