Colonial Governor William Greene Portrait

This portrait is of Colonial Governor William Greene of Rhode Island, painted in 1750 by Peter Pelham of Boston. Pelham, known as America’s first mezzotintist painted less than a dozen portraits, which includes his most famous, Cotton Mather which hangs in the Worcester Athenium.

This portrait has been exhibited at the Copley Society, the Corcoran Gallery as part of the United States Constitution Sesquicentennial Portrait Exhibit, at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, once for a four-year period in the 1940s and also for the well-known One Hundred Colonial Portraits Exhibition. It is signed and dated, which is referenced in Limners and Likenesses, and these now lie beneath the Doll and Richards relining that was done around 1940. The Exhibition and ownership tags are retained on the reverse of the frame and stretcher. The painting is pictured in One Hundred Colonial Portraits, Limners and Likenesses, and several journal articles.

This is a highly significant painting not only because of the extreme rarity of Pelham’s paintings but also because of the stature of the sitter. The fact that Pelham also instructed his stepson John Singleton Copley in the drawings and painting make Pelham of even more interest.

As with all of our pieces, in ‘as found’ condition.
Very nice overall condition.
Oil on canvas
Sight approx. 29” H x 24 1/4” W Frame 36 1/4” H x 31 5/8” W