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Artist/Maker
Augustus Rockwell
(American, 1822 - 1882)
Date1865
MediumOil on canvas
DimensionsOverall: 30 × 25 in. (76.2 × 63.5 cm)
Frame: 38 1/2 × 33 1/4 × 4 3/4 in. (97.8 × 84.5 × 12.1 cm)
Credit LineHamilton College Portrait Collection. Commissioned by Rev. Amos Delos Gridley, Class of 1839.
Object number1873.2
Not on view
DescriptionKirkland was the founder of the Hamilton-Oneida Academy, which became Hamilton College.
"No portrait was made of the Rev. Samuel Kirkland (1741-1808) during his lifetime. In 1779, however, when the missionary was serving as an army chaplain during the Sullivan campaign in the Indian territories of Pennsylvania and New York, a brother officer made an India ink sketch of him. From this, "at one or two removes," Augustus Rockwell (1822?-1882), a painter of Buffalo, New York, was commissioned by the Rev. Amos Delos Gridley, '39, local historian and a member of the committee in charge of the new Memorial Hall, to prepare a portrait of the Founder, showing him "as he appeared at forty years of age - erect, vigorous, of commanding presence, with a penetrating eye and an animated, buoyant expression..." (SOURCE: Walter Pilkington, "College Portraits" exhibition cat. (Clinton, NY: Edward W. Root Art Center, 1964)
Collections
Additional Details
Exhibition History
1964
Clinton, NY (Edward W. Root Art Center, Hamilton College). "College Portraits," October 11 - November 15, 1964 (cat. no. 1);
1872 - 1914
Clinton, NY (Memorial Hall and Art Gallery, Hamilton College). Permanent installation, 1872 - 1914.
Clinton, NY (Edward W. Root Art Center, Hamilton College). "College Portraits," October 11 - November 15, 1964 (cat. no. 1);
1872 - 1914
Clinton, NY (Memorial Hall and Art Gallery, Hamilton College). Permanent installation, 1872 - 1914.
Provenance
1865: Hamilton College (Memorial Hall and Art Gallery); commissioned and donated by Rev. Amos Delos Gridley, Class of 1839.
Published References
Maurice Isserman, ON THE HILL: A BICENTENNIAL HISTORY OF HAMILTON COLLEGE 1812-2012 (Clinton, New York: Hamilton College, 2012), illus. 2.
Alan Taylor "THE DIVIDED GROUND: INDIANS, SETTLERS, AND NORTHERN BORDERLAND OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION (New York, NY: Alfred K. Knopf, 2006), cover illustration (in reverse).
Joseph Glatthaar and James Kirby Martin, FORGOTTEN ALLIES: THE ONEIDA INDIANS AND THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION (New York, NY: Hill and Wang, 2005), illus. unnumbered plate.
Time-Life Books Editors, THE REVOLUTIONARIES: THE AMERICAN STORY (Time Life Education, 1996).
Walter Pilkington, COLLEGE PORTRAITS (exh.cat. Clinton NY, Edward W. Root Art Center, Hamilton College, 1964), cat. no. 1.
Alan Taylor "THE DIVIDED GROUND: INDIANS, SETTLERS, AND NORTHERN BORDERLAND OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION (New York, NY: Alfred K. Knopf, 2006), cover illustration (in reverse).
Joseph Glatthaar and James Kirby Martin, FORGOTTEN ALLIES: THE ONEIDA INDIANS AND THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION (New York, NY: Hill and Wang, 2005), illus. unnumbered plate.
Time-Life Books Editors, THE REVOLUTIONARIES: THE AMERICAN STORY (Time Life Education, 1996).
Walter Pilkington, COLLEGE PORTRAITS (exh.cat. Clinton NY, Edward W. Root Art Center, Hamilton College, 1964), cat. no. 1.
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