James Peale, Portrait of a Man, Possibly John McCluney, 1794

Chicago:

Aimee Marcereau DeGalan, “James Peale, Portrait of a Man, Possibly John McCluney, 1794,” 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/10.37764/8322.5.3104.

MLA:

Marcereau DeGalan, Aimee. “James Peale, Portrait of a Man, Possibly John McCluney, 1794,” 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: 10.37764/8322.5.3104.

See the artist’s biography in volume 4.

This miniature, one of a pair by James Peale thought to portray Mr. and Mrs. John McCluney, was acquired by the esteemed art collector Henry Walters (1848–1931) sometime before 1931. The identity of the subjects remains a matter of speculation. Plausible contenders for the male sitter’s identity include John William McCluney (Belfast, Ireland, 1776–1860), who later married Elizabeth Purviance (1778–1840) of Pennsylvania in 1804, and another John McCluney who married Isabella Shearer (1759–?) in Virginia in 1779.¹ A third possibility suggests an unknown or even invented identity, potentially assigned by a dealer prior to Walters’s acquisition, capitalizing on the emotive connection of paired marriage portraits by the same artist and from the same timeframe. Following Walters’s death, the miniatures passed into the possession of his wife, Sarah (Sadie) Wharton Green Jones Walters (1859–1943). Subsequently, they were dispersed in a posthumous sale in 1955.² The portrait of the male subject journeyed to Kansas City, while the portrait of the woman found its home in the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington, DC.³

In the scenario where the sitters are John William McCluney and Elizabeth Purviance, the portraits would be representations of their coming of age rather than their marital union, created when they were eighteen and seventeen, respectively. While scant details are available about McCluney’s early life in Belfast and his immigration to the United States, he surfaces as Major John McCluney in the 22nd Pennsylvania Infantry in the War of 1812.⁴ Conversely, if the portraits represent the other John McCluney and Isabella Shearer, who married in 1779, they would both have been in their mid-thirties when their portraits were painted, which may be too old for the present fresh-faced visages. Despite misalignments in wedding dates, it is not implausible that a young immigrant like the Belfast McCluney would have sought to commemorate his new beginning by sitting for a prominent artist like James Peale—possibly influenced by the artist’s own military service connections from the Revolutionary War. Furthermore, Purviance’s family had ties to Philadelphia, and diary entries exist from James’s brother Charles that mention a Captain John Purvience [sic], who may have been Elizabeth’s father or uncle,⁵ thus strengthening the connections between their social circles. Upon marriage, perhaps the portraits were kept together by a descendant and eventually sold to Walters.

These connections lend credence to the speculative identification of John William McCluney and Elizabeth Purviance. However, the challenge lies in corroborating these hypotheses, since there are no other known portraits of the couple to which these can be compared. Further complicating matters is the similarity between several of James Peale’s portraits of young men from around 1794, the same date as the present portrait.⁶ Notably, a portrait of an unnamed gentleman at the Smithsonian American Art Museum has a very similar countenance, the same penetrating blue eyes and knowing grin, and the same distinctive blue jacket and embroidered waistcoat as the Nelson-Atkins miniature.⁷

During the mid-1790s, James Peale flourished as a miniaturist, consolidating his clientele with his brother’s and producing works marked by a freer style, less-defined forms, and an earthier palette than his previous work. Yet, as evidenced by this portrait and its numerous analogues, some works from this period lean toward generalization. Diligent research may eventually reveal the true identity of this sitter. In the meantime, the quest to identify him continues, entwined with the romantic notion of pairing two youthful and captivating sitters.

Notes

1. U.S. and International Marriage Records, 1560–1900 (Provo, UT: Yates Publishing, MyFamily.com, Inc., 2004).

2. Sarah (Sadie) Wharton Green Jones Walters (1859–1943) was the widow of Henry Walters of Baltimore, who amassed a collection that formed the nucleus of the Walters Art Museum in that city. He predeceased her by a decade, and her collection was dispersed in two public auctions at Parke-Bernet in 1941 and 1955, respectively. See The Mrs. Henry Walters Art Collection, Parke-Bernet Galleries, New York, April 23–26, 1941, and Early American Furniture, Important Miniatures and Prints, Parke-Bernet Galleries, New York, October 14–15, 1955. The Nelson-Atkins and Smithsonian portraits are lots 238 and 239, respectively, in the latter sale.

3. See James Peale, Mrs. John McCluney, ca. 1795, watercolor on ivory, Smithsonian American Art Museum, 1950.12.3, https://americanart.si.edu/artwork/mrs-john-mccluney-19299. The Walters sales catalogue from 1955 lists this painting as being “signed and dated 1799.”

4. Major McCluney was in command of the forces at Pittsburgh. See John Newell Crombie, “The Twenty-Second United States Infantry: A Forgotten Regiment in a Forgotten War,” Listed as “Major John McCluney,” in the Roster of Officers, 22nd Pennsylvania Infantry, 147, https://patcosta.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/The-Twenty-Second-Infantry-A-Forgotten-Regiment-in-a-Forgotten-War.pdf. He was commissioned major by President Madison, a title that was revoked a year later. See “To James Madison from John McCluney, 30 March 1813,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Madison/03-06-02-0159. [Original source: Angela Kreider et al., eds., The Papers of James Madison: Presidential Series, vol. 6, 8 February–24 October 1813 (Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2008), 166–67.]

5. See entry no. 86, “Charles Willson Peale: Diary 4. Part 2: Philadelphia, Bucks country, and with The American Army at Valley Forge, September 17, 1777 – January 2, 1778,” in Lillian B. Miller, ed., The Selected Papers of Charles Willson Peale and His Family (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1983), 239–40n3.

6. See James Peale, Portrait of a Gentleman, 1794, watercolor on ivory, 2 1/4 x 1 7/8 in. (5.8 x 4.6 cm), Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/14313.

7. James Peale, Portrait of a Gentleman, 1793, watercolor on ivory, 2 3/8 x 2 x 1/2 in. (5.9 x 5.1 x 1.4 cm), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, DC, https://edan.si.edu/saam/id/object/2012.21.

Henry Walters (1848–1931), Baltimore, by 1931 [1];

Inherited by his wife, Sarah (Sadie) Wharton Green Jones Walters (1859–1943), New York and Baltimore, 1931–1941 [2];

Sold at her sale, The Mrs. Henry Walters Art Collection, Parke-Bernet Galleries, New York, April 25, 1941, lot 588, as Major John McCluney [3];

Norvin Hewitt Green (1893–1955), New York, by 1955;

Sold at his posthumous sale, Early American Furniture, Important Miniatures and Prints, Parke-Bernet Galleries, New York, October 15, 1955, lot 238, as Major John McCluney [4];

Mr. John W. (1905–2000) and Mrs. Martha Jane (1906–2011) Starr, Kansas City, MO, by 1958;

Their gift to The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, 1958.

Notes

[1] In Early American Painting (New York: The Century Co., 1932), the miniature is reproduced as “The Henry Walters Collection.”

[2] Sarah was first married to Pembroke Jones (1858–1919) of Wilmington, NC, in 1884. After his death, she married her lifelong friend, Henry Walters in 1922.

[3] Description from the catalogue: “Major John McCluney, James Peale, American: 1749–1831, Waist-length portrait to half right, wearing blue coat, white waistcoat and frilled jabot. Signed with initials J.P. and dated 1794. Locket frame. Oval: Height 2 1/2 inches. John McCluney of Pennsylvania served in the War of 1812 as Major of the 22nd Infantry 1812–13.”

[4] Description from the catalogue: “Major John McCluney, James Peale, American: 1749–1831, Waist-length portrait to half-right, wearing blue coat, white waistcoat and frilled jabot. Signed with initials J.P., and dated 1794. Locket frame. In case. (Green Estate). Oval: Height 2 1/2 inches. John McCluney of Pennsylvania served in the War of 1812 as Major of the 22nd Infantry 1812–13. Collection of Mrs. Henry Walters, Parke-Bernet Galleries, Inc, 1941.”

James Peale, Mrs. John McCluney, ca. 1795, watercolor on ivory, sight 2 5/8 x 2 1/8 in. (6.7 x 5.4 cm) oval, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, DC, Museum purchase through the Catherine Walden Myer Fund, 1950.12.3.

The Starr Foundation Collection of Miniatures, The Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto, December 8, 1972–January 14, 1973, no cat., no. 222, as Major John McCluney.

Frederic Fairchild Sherman, Early American Painting (New York: The Century Co., 1932), p. 217, pl. LV, as John McCluney.

The Mrs. Henry Walters Art Collection (New York: Parke-Bernet Galleries, April 25, 1941), 119, (repro.).

Early American Furniture, Important Miniatures and Prints (New York: Parke-Bernet Galleries, October 15, 1955), 51, (repro.).

Martha Jane and John W. Starr, “Collecting Portrait Miniatures,” Antiques 80, no. 5 (November 1961): 438, (repro.), as Major John McCluney.

Ross E. Taggart, The Starr Collection of Miniatures in the William Rockhill Nelson Gallery (Kansas City, MO: Nelson Gallery-Atkins Museum, 1971), no. 222, p. 73 (repro.), as Major John McCluney.