Object Record
Images
Metadata
Object |
Painting |
Title |
General David Robinson |
Artist/Creator |
Phillips, Ammi |
Year Range from |
1818 |
Year Range to |
1820 |
Description |
Painting by Ammi Phillips (1788-1865) of Major General David Robinson of Old Bennington, Vermont (1754-1843), a soldier in the Battle of Bennington and a U.S. Marshal from 1811-1819. Companion portrait to 1994.8.2, his third wife Nancy Church Robinson. Painted between 1818 and 1820. Both have matching black frames and gold inserts. Shown seated on white and gold painted armchair. Robinson is facing to his right, with his head toward the viewer. Wearing a black coat and knee breeches with a white shirt and ruffled collar. Blue eyes and white hair, pulled back in a long que. Book on table next to him, holding quill pen in his right hand. |
Width (inches) |
32.500 |
Height (inches) |
39.000 |
Information |
David Robinson, about 66 when this portrait was painted, is shown as a very conservative dresser. He is wearing knee breeches and his hair long and tied in a "queue" (ponytail), even though both had been out of fashion for about thirty years. A number of written sources confirm that he lived the glory days of the Revolutionary War for decades after it was over, and his appearance in this portrait certainly confirms that information. This picture, along with the mate of Nancy Robinson, hung in the "North Front Room" of their house until the late 1840s. The portraits were separated soon after Mrs. Robinson died, and were not reunited until 1981. The frames are not original. Ammi Phillips was a country artist who traveled New England in search of work. His painting style falls into three distinct periods, of which these pictures represent the middle period, when Phillips was living nearby in upstate New York. |
Related People |
Robinson, David (1754-1843) Phillips, Ammi |
Credit line |
Funds for purchase provided by exchange from: Colyer Collection, in Memory of Joseph H. Colyer, Sr.; Carl Gerdau; Mrs. Henry Bradford; Miss Louise DeWilde; Estate of Harlan Miller; Hall Park McCullough |
Catalog Number |
1994.8.1 |