Edward Samuel Dodge, Portrait of Dr. Thomas Epps Wilson, 1847

Chicago:

Blythe Sobol, “Edward Samuel Dodge, Portrait of Dr. Thomas Epps Wilson, 1847,” catalogue entry in Aimee Marcereau DeGalan, Blythe Sobol, and Maggie Keenan, The Starr Collection of Portrait Miniatures, 1500–1850: The Collections of the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, vol. 1, ed. Aimee Marcereau DeGalan (Kansas City, MO: Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, 2024), https://doi.org/10.37764/8322.5.3202.

MLA:

Sobol, Blythe. “Edward Samuel Dodge, Portrait of Dr. Thomas Epps Wilson, 1847,” catalogue entry. Aimee Marcereau DeGalan, Blythe Sobol, and Maggie Keenan. The Starr Collection of Portrait Miniatures, 1500–1850: The Collections of the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, edited by Aimee Marcereau DeGalan, vol. 1, Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, 2024. doi: 10.37764/8322.5.3202.

See the artist’s biography in volume 4.

In 1927, curator Harry B. Wehle wrote, “The [painted] miniature in the presence of the photograph was like a bird before a snake: it was fascinated—and then it was swallowed.”¹ This pair of miniatures depicting Dr. Thomas Epps Wilson (1817–1876) and his wife, Janet Marshall Mitchel Wilson (1828–1899) (Fig. 1, 2005.27.456) entered the Nelson-Atkins collection with a group of hair jewelry and daguerreotypes taken of the couple at about the same time. These artworks, framed in daguerreotype-style cases, provide an extraordinary object lesson on the waning of the portrait miniature in the United States in the late 1840s.

While both miniatures were long unattributed, their artist can now be confidently identified as Edward Samuel Dodge on the basis of both stylistic similarity to Dodge’s work, particularly in the portrait of Mrs. Wilson,² and archival evidence, as both sitters are recorded in Dodge’s account book in 1847.³ At that time, Dodge was traveling throughout the Southern states painting portrait miniatures.⁴ The miniature of Dr. Wilson, completed in April 1847, was probably an engagement gift, as the couple married on July 13, 1847.⁵ The newlyweds settled in Warrenton, North Carolina, near the new Mrs. Wilson’s family estate, Elgin Plantation.⁶ Dodge painted the new Mrs. Wilson that November. These individual miniatures were joined with a daguerreotype of the couple by Montgomery P. Simons (American, 1817–1877) that was probably taken that same year, to commemorate either their engagement or their marriage (Fig. 2).⁷

In the miniatures, Dodge positioned the Wilsons in static, bust-length poses, facing forward and gazing directly at the viewer. While he was a competent painter,⁸ his portraits appear admittedly flat in comparison to the photograph by Simons, whose talents surpass those of Dodge in their respective media. Simons depicts the couple in an intimate pose, the husband’s attention fixed on his nineteen-year-old wife, who gazes outward at the viewer. The photograph is a restrained yet emotionally poignant depiction of a young couple in the first months of marriage. Tellingly, there are no later known portrait miniatures of the Wilson family, although they chose a photographer to document the early months of their daughter Lizzie Holman Wilson’s life in 1850.⁹

While the finest miniaturists could capture deep emotion and character in their painted portraits, this comparison clearly illustrates why photographic portraits grew in popularity, soon surpassing the portrait miniature among the middle classes.¹⁰ In an age of sentimentality and family bonds, photographs were an affordable and accessible way of holding onto loved ones for generations to come. These miniatures, several photographs, a hair bracelet engraved with “JM” for Janet Mitchel, and a watch chain that probably belonged to Dr. Wilson remained within the family as treasured keepsakes for over a century, displayed in a shadowbox, before joining the collection of the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art.¹¹

Notes

1. Harry B. Wehle, American Miniatures, 1730–1850 (New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1927), 69.

2. We are grateful to conservator Carol Aiken for her observations on the miniature’s attribution and condition following an October–November 2018, visit. Notes in NAMA curatorial files. Aiken writes, “I have several technically comparable examples for both miniatures, so am willing to accept the Wilsons are indeed both works by Dodge, although superficially they appear to have been done by different hands.” In a separate email, Aiken writes, “‘Mrs. Doct. Wilson’ is recognizably by E. S. Dodge. ‘Doc. Wilson’ is not so much so, but can be shown to fit into a pattern of E. S. Dodge miniatures of men.” Carol Aiken to Blythe Sobol, November 18, 2018, NAMA curatorial files.

3. Aiken generously shared her records of Dodge’s account book, which documents portraits of “Doc” Wilson in April 1847, without an associated fee, and “Mrs. Doct. Wilson” in November 1847, for twenty-five dollars. See Carol Aiken to Blythe Sobol, November 18, 2018, NAMA curatorial files.

4. Dodge may have been working as an itinerant photographer at that time as well, but there are no records of his daguerreotypes and painted photographs until he exhibited them in Nashville in 1856. “J. W. and E. S. Dodge,” Pioneer American Photographers, 1839–1860, November 19, 2018, https://pioneeramericanphotographers.com/2018/11/19/j-w-e-s-dodge.

5. “Marriage Certificate,” Janet M. Mitchell to Thomas E. Wilson on July 13, 1847, in Warren County, NC, Marriage Records, 1741–2011, North Carolina, digitized on ancestry.com. The couple’s marriage is also recorded in the family bible. “Wilson-Montgomery-Mitchell Family Bible Records,” State Archives of North Carolina (400.1.1.2131), https://digital.ncdcr.gov/Documents/Detail/wilson-montgomery-mitchell-family-bible-records/1341290?item=1341291.

6. Mrs. Wilson was the daughter of Elizabeth Person Mitchel and Peter Mitchel, one of the area’s most prominent landowners and enslavers. Elgin Plantation was a substantial estate of over two thousand acres, four miles from the town of Warrenton. The 1840 Federal Census lists eighty-one enslaved people at Elgin, including thirty-three children under ten years old. 1840 United States Federal Census, 1840, Warren County, North Carolina, roll 372, page 40, FHL film no. 0018098, digitized on ancestry.com. The Wilsons also enslaved people. The 1850 Warren County slave schedules record eight unnamed people between the ages of five and twenty-seven years old enslaved by Dr. Thomas E. Wilson. 1850 U.S. Federal Census: Slave Schedules, 1850, Warren County, North Carolina, digitized on ancestry.com. For more on the Wilson and Mitchel families and their residences in Warren County, refer to the account of their daughter, Lizzie Wilson Montgomery, Sketches of Old Warrenton (Raleigh: Edwards and Broughton, 1924), 327.

7. “[The] daguerreotype may have been made during a stop in Philadelphia in the summer of 1847 during the couple’s honeymoon trip to Niagara Falls.” Unattributed note in NAMA curatorial files.

8. The miniatures’ condition also impacts how we view them today. The portrait of Mrs. Wilson is quite faded, though its appearance has been improved by the addition of a pink-painted card behind the miniature to brighten the appearance of the flesh tones. Dr. Wilson’s portrait is cracked and has been overpainted in some areas. Katherine G. Eirk, “Treatment Report,” October 14, 1991, NAMA curatorial object file.

9. The sitters’ identities are recorded in a handwritten note on the verso: “This daguerreotype is / the image of Janet / Mitchel Wilson and her / baby daughter Lizzie Holman Wilson Montgomery, the / mother of Elizabeth Mitchel / Montgomery. This / daguerreotype was taken in / the year 1850.” Lizzie’s birth is recorded as May 12, 1850, on her death certificate; North Carolina Death Certificates, North Carolina State Archives, Raleigh, January 1, 1944, digitized on ancestry.com.

10. Jane Aspinwall’s keen observations on this group of miniatures and photographs has been crucial to the development of this essay. Keith F. Davis, with Jane L. Aspinwall, The Origins of American Photography: From Daguerreotype to Dry-Plate, 1839–1885, exh. cat. (Kansas City: Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, 2007), 84–85.

11. In 1984, Robert Hal McNeely instructed, “These miniatures are to stay in [my] family and should not be given to anyone other than my mother, my sister, or my nephew Benjamin.” Robert Hal McNeely, “Will,” October 19, 1984, NAMA curatorial files. The Wilson family objects, besides the two miniatures, that were originally in McNeely’s collection include Montgomery P. Simons, Daguerreotype of Thomas Epps Wilson and Janet Mitchel Wilson, 2005.27.284; Daguerreotype of Janet Mitchel Wilson and Lizzie Holman Wilson, 2005.27.4654; and Shadow Box, Hair Bracelet, and Coin Chain, 2005.27.4562.A-C.

Commissioned by the sitter Dr. Thomas Epps Wilson (1817–1876) and his wife, Janet Mitchel Wilson (1828–1899), Warrenton, NC, 1847–1899 [1];

By descent to their daughter, Lizzie Holman Wilson Montgomery (1850–1944), Warrenton, NC, 1899–1944;

By descent to her daughter, Elizabeth Mitchel Montgomery (“Miss Betsy”) (1882–1981), Raleigh, NC, 1944–1981 [2];

Inherited by Robert Hal McNeely (b. 1950), Raleigh, NC, 1981–at least 1984 [3];

Sold from Historical Auction: Autographs, Posters, Photographs, Riba Auctions, Glastonbury, CT, June 17, 1989, lot 42 [4];

Probably with Larry Gottheim Fine Early Photographs, Binghamton, NY, by 1991 [5];

Probably purchased from Gottheim by Alan Trachtenberg (1932–2020), Hamden, CT, by 1991 [6];

Purchased from Trachtenberg by Hallmark Cards, Inc., Kansas City, MO, by 2005;

Their gift to the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, 2005.

Notes

[1] Both Thomas Epps Wilson and Janet Mitchel Wilson are recorded in the account book of the artist, Edward Samuel Dodge. “Doc Wilson” is listed in April 1847, with no associated fee. “Mrs. Doct. Wilson” is listed in November 1847 with a charge of $25.00. Carol Aiken to Blythe Sobol, November 18, 2018, NAMA curatorial files.

[2] The portrait miniatures are listed in an inventory of her belongings at her home at 124 E. Edenton Street, Raleigh, NC, dated July 30, 1978, no. 5, located in the living room. The miniatures are described as “2 miniatures in one frame of Thos. And Janet M. Wilson.” NAMA curatorial files. I am grateful to Julie Weber for her assistance with accessing the object file for these works, and particularly for scouring the Registration files for additional information.

[3] In a handwritten document dated October 19, 1984, McNeely described the miniatures and other Wilson family mementos as “my most prized possessions from Miss Betsy.” He subsequently explained, “The miniatures are of her grandparents Dr. Thos. Epps Wilson and Janet Marshall Mitchel Wilson.” “Miss Betsy” was Elizabeth Mitchel Montgomery. Notes in the NAMA curatorial file confirm this identification. Mr. McNeely is listed as the designated recipient of the portrait miniatures in Elizabeth Montgomery’s official inventory, dated July 30, 1978. In the inventory, notably, McNeely is described as living in the “apartment upstairs.” According to Riba’s list of prices realized, lot 42 sold for $400. NAMA curatorial files.

[4] Lot 42 is described as “A pair of miniatures on ivory, of Janet Marshall Mitchell, and her husband, Dr. Thomas Epps Wilson, from the Elgin Plantation, Warren County, NC. Miniatures are not signed, but probably done by a local Raleigh, NC, artist. Cased in shadow box frame; very fine, 2 1/2 x 3. Photocopy of estate inventory, etc. evaluable.” NAMA curatorial files.

[5] In the 1990s, Gottheim (b. 1936) operated Larry Gottheim Fine Early Photographs. He is also a filmmaker and founder of the Department of Cinema at Binghamton University, State University of New York. A letter in the curatorial file from Larry Gottheim, regarding the condition of the miniatures after shipping and promising enclosed “supplementary information” on the portraits, indicates Gottheim may have sold them to Trachtenberg some time after the Riba sale in 1988. Larry Gottheim to Alan Trachtenberg, May 21, 1991, NAMA curatorial files. No bill of sale has been found.

[6] Trachtenbeg was a Professor of American Studies at Yale University. He published a landmark book on American photography two years after the miniatures were sold at Riba: Reading American Photographs: Images as History, Mathew Brady to Walker Evans—A Study of American Photography from 1839 to 1938 (New York: Hill and Wang, 1990). The artworks were in Trachtenberg’s collection by 1991, when he corresponded with Larry Gottheim regarding their condition. Larry Gottheim to Alan Trachtenberg, May 21, 1991. NAMA curatorial files.

Edward Samuel Dodge, Portrait of Janet Mitchel Wilson, 1847, watercolor on ivory, plate: 3 1/4 x 2 3/4 in. (8.3 x 7 cm); case (open): 3 3/4 x 6 5/8 x 1/4 in. (9.5 x 16.8 x 0.6 cm); case (closed): 3 3/4 x 3 1/4 x 9/16 in. (9.5 x 8.3 x 1.4 cm), Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, Gift of Hallmark Cards, Inc., 2005.27.456.

Montgomery P. Simons, Thomas Epps Wilson and Janet Mitchel Wilson, ca. 1847, daguerreotype, plate (three-quarter): 6 1/2 x 5 7/8 in. (16.51 x 14.92 cm); case (open): 7 1/8 x 13 1/4 x 3/8 in. (18.1 x 33.66 x 0.95 cm); case (closed): 7 1/8 x 6 1/2 x 7/8 in. (18.1 x 16.51 x 2.22 cm), Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, Gift of Hallmark Cards, Inc., 2005.27.284.

Unknown, Janet Mitchel Wilson and Lizzie Holman Wilson, 1850, daguerreotype, plate: 3 1/4 x 2 3/4 in. (8.3 x 7 cm); framed: 4 5/16 x 3 7/8 x 5/8 in. (10.9 x 9.8 x 1.6 cm), Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, Gift of Hallmark Cards, Inc., 2005.27.4654.

Mirror with a Memory: The American Daguerreotype, Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, October 13, 2001–January 7, 2002, no cat.

Historical Auction: Autographs, Posters, Photographs (Glastonbury, CT: Riba Auctions, June 17, 1989), lot 42.

Keith F. Davis and Jane L. Aspinwall, The Origins of American Photography, 1839–1855: From Daguerreotype to Dry-Plate (New Haven: Yale, 2007), 84–85.