Rufus Hathaway (1770–1822) was an American physician and folk art painter. He lived in southern Massachusetts, where he painted numerous portraits between 1790 and 1795.[1] He later studied medicine and established himself as a doctor at Duxbury.[2]
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/20/Lady_with_Her_Pets_%28Molly_Wales_Fobes%29_-_Rufus_Hathaway.jpg/250px-Lady_with_Her_Pets_%28Molly_Wales_Fobes%29_-_Rufus_Hathaway.jpg)
Hathway was born in Freetown, Massachusetts, and was the eldest of six children born to Asa Hathaway and Mary Phillips;[1] his father and grandfather were ship carpenters.[3] The family moved several times, settling in Bristol, Rhode Island in the mid-1780s.[2] The source of Hathaway's artistic training is unknown, though it is believed he may have worked as a decorative artist or apprentice ship-carver; as a painter he appears to have been self-taught.[2] He is known to have been active in the vicinity of Taunton, Massachusetts in 1790.[4] Hathaway arrived in Duxbury in 1791, and began painting portraits of members of locally prominent families. In 1795 he married Judith Winsor, the daughter of a locally important merchant. He took up medicine at this time, possibly at the behest of his new wife's family,[4] studying with Dr. Isaac Winslow of Marshfield.[5] He seems to have abandoned painting, as very few works by his hand are known after the time of his marriage,[1] although paintings dating to as late as 1808 have been documented.[4] Hathaway had twelve children by Judith; at one time the only physician in Duxbury,[5] he was highly respected in the field, and was elected Honorary Fellow of the Massachusetts Medical Society shortly before his death.[1] One of his granddaughters was the abolitionist and suffragist Judith Winsor Smith,[6] and surgeon Frederick Winsor was a great-nephew.[7]
Thirty-three portraits by Hathaway are known to exist, dating almost exclusively to the years between 1790 and 1795;[1] all are of relatives and friends,[8] among them the educator and politician George Partridge.[9] He also painted landscapes, portrait miniatures, and overmantels.[2][4] One genre painting, the Welch Curate of about 1800, is documented; it was adapted from an English mezzotint.[8] Furthermore, he is known to have created at least one wood carving, a figure of an eagle used to crown a temporary arch constructed to inaugurate a new bridge over the Bluefish River,[4] and he carved the frames to some of his paintings.[8]
Hathaway died of a hernia incurred while lifting a patient, traditionally held to be Ezra Weston, and is buried in the Mayflower Cemetery in Duxbury.[10] His epitaph, which he may have composed himself, relates to his career as a physician.[4] He was survived by Judith, who would go on to live to be 102, and left his heirs a little more than 700 pounds at his death.[10]
A bill of sale for six portraits of the Weston family exists, dating to 1793; it indicates that the paintings cost six pounds, and that Hathaway charged a further three shillings for the frame on the portrait of Ezra Weston.[11] In 2006, a pair of portraits, of Josiah Dean III and his wife, Sarah, were sold at Sotheby's, together fetching $380,000.[12]
Selected works
edit- Lady with Her Pets, 1790, Metropolitan Museum of Art: his earliest known work[13]
- Joseph Robertson Tolman, c. 1795, formerly Whitney Museum of American Art, New York (sold 1999)[14]
- Sylvia Church Weston Sampson, 1793, Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, Connecticut[15]
- Lucy Winsor, c. 1794, Baltimore Museum of Art, Baltimore, Maryland
- Joshua Winsor (1748–1827), 1793, formerly New England Historic Genealogical Society, Boston, Massachusetts (sold)[16]
- Seth Winsor, c. 1793–95, RISD Museum[17]
- A View of Mr. Joshua Winsor's House & c., c. 1793–95, American Folk Art Museum[18]
- three portraits (of Ezra Weston II, his wife Jerusha, and his daughter Maria), Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Folk Art Museum (attributed) [19][20][21]
References
edit- ^ a b c d e "Vose Galleries – Rufus Hathaway". vosegalleries.com. Retrieved 7 February 2015.
- ^ a b c d "Rufus Hathaway". oxfordreference.com. Retrieved 7 February 2015.
- ^ 'Primitive' artist's work offers glimpse of past. Donna MacLearn, The Patriot-Ledger, June 17, 1987. Retrieved 7 February 2015.
- ^ a b c d e f Gerard C. Wertkin (2 August 2004). Encyclopedia of American Folk Art. Routledge. pp. 250–. ISBN 978-1-135-95615-8.
- ^ a b Albert TenEyck Gardner, Stuart P. Feld. American Paintings: A Catalogue of the Collection of The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Vol. 1, Painters Born by 1815. Metropolitan Museum of Art. pp. 116–. GGKEY:FFP93GZGZGS.
- ^ "Judith Winsor Smith". drewarchives.org. 6 November 2012. Retrieved 7 February 2015.
- ^ "Winsor, Frederick". Drew Archival Library. 8 December 2014. Retrieved 7 February 2015.
- ^ a b c Joan M. Marter (2011). The Grove Encyclopedia of American Art. Oxford University Press. pp. 1–. ISBN 978-0-19-533579-8.
- ^ Margaret C. S. Christman; National Portrait Gallery (Smithsonian Institution); United States. Congress (17 March 1989). The first federal congress, 1789-1791. Smithsonian Institution Press for the National Portrait Gallery and the United States Congress. ISBN 978-0-87474-313-5.
- ^ a b "Mayflower Cemetery tour sheds light on 19th century" (PDF). Duxbury Clipper. Retrieved 22 December 2017.
- ^ Nina F. Little (1 September 1984). Little by Little: Six Decades of Collecting American Decorative Arts. E.P. Dutton. ISBN 978-0-525-24265-9.
- ^ "Josiah Dean III and his wife, Sarah by Rufus Hathaway – Blouin Art Sales Index". artinfo.com. Retrieved 8 February 2015.
- ^ "Rufus Hathaway – Lady with Her Pets (Molly Wales Fobes) – The Metropolitan Museum of Art". metmuseum.org. Retrieved 7 February 2015.
- ^ "*Rufus Hathaway (1770–1822)". Invaluable.com. Retrieved 7 February 2015.
- ^ "Sylvia Church Weston Sampson". yale.edu. Archived from the original on 7 February 2015. Retrieved 7 February 2015.
- ^ New York Media, LLC (25 July 1988). "New York Magazine". Newyorkmetro.com. New York Media, LLC: 43–. ISSN 0028-7369.
- ^ "Portrait of Seth Winsor". risdmuseum.org. Retrieved 7 February 2015.
- ^ "Collection – American Folk Art Museum". folkartmuseum.org. Retrieved 7 February 2015.
- ^ Portrait of Ezra Weston at the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation. Retrieved 7 February 2015.
- ^ Portrait of Jerusha Bradford Weston at the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation. Retrieved 7 February 2015.
- ^ Portrait of Maria Weston at the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation. Retrieved 7 February 2015.