The Quan or Guan from the West Indies

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Artist/Makerattributed to John William Lewin (British, 1770 – 1819 (active New South Wales, Australia))

Date1770-1819

MediumGraphite, ink, and watercolor on paper

DimensionsSheet: 11 3/4 × 9 9/16 in. (29.8 × 24.3 cm)

Credit LineThe Beinecke Lesser Antilles Collection of Hamilton College

Object number1971.13

On view

DescriptionThe Beinecke Collection of the Lesser Antilles was originally assembled by Walter Beinecke, Jr., H1966. Although he did not graduate from Hamilton, Beinecke was devoted to the College. He was elected to the Board of Trustees in 1960 and served as a life trustee, until his death in 2004. In the late 1960s, he was integral in the planning of Kirkland College, where he was also appointed a trustee. During the 1960s, Beinecke collected art and manuscripts pertaining to the colonial period of the Lesser Antilles, a group of islands in the Caribbean including the present-day US and British Virgin Islands, Trinidad and Tobago, Saint Kitts and Nevis, and Barbados. In 1971, he presented his collection to Hamilton College. The diversity of these islands caused by their disparate geological underpinnings, the geographic origins of the slaves brought to each island, the policies of their colonial rulers, and their locations along trade routes is reflected in the wealth of material in the Beinecke Collection. The collection contains many landscapes and views of the various islands along with maps, most of which were created in the service of European colonial powers. For example, John Herbert Caddy—who painted Kingston, St. Vincent (cat. no. 38)—began his military service in England and served as an engineer in the West Indies during two tours of duty with the Royal Artillery between 1828 and 1837. Before the popularization of photography, topographical drawing and painting were an important part of an engineer’s training, used, in this case, to document the geographic features of the lands that encompassed the British Empire. European nations were often at war over these territories, as seen in William Smyth’s British Attacking a Gunboat (opposite). Saint Vincent itself became a British colony in 1763, after many decades of French rule. Beginning in 1720, European colonists brought thousands of Africans there as slaves to cultivate sugarcane. Prior to its European occupation, the island had been the domain of the Carib people, who had resisted foreign attempts to settle the island and continued to do so under British rule, until the country was emancipated in 1833. Kingston, St. Vincent depicts the then-inchoate harbor town of Kingstown (as it is spelled today), which eventually became the capital, on the island’s southwest coast. The Wellin Museum’s holdings of nearly one hundred watercolors, oil paintings, and prints dating from 1675 to 1878 are complemented by manuscripts, rare books, and other archival materials also collected by Beinecke, now held in the Hamilton College Special Collections at Burke Library. (SOURCE: Alcauskas, INNOVATIVE APPROACHES, HONORED TRADITIONS, 2017) Bird

Collections

Additional Details

Exhibition History 2024-2025
Clinton, NY. The Ruth and Elmer Wellin Museum of Art, Hamilton College. "Menagerie: Animals in Art from the Wellin Museum," September 7, 2024 –June 8, 2025 (no cat.).

2017
Clinton, NY (Ruth and Elmer Wellin Museum of Art, Hamilton College). "Innovative Approaches, Honored Traditions: The Ruth and Elmer Wellin Museum of Art at Five Years, Highlights from the Permanent Collection," September 9 - December 10, 2017 (cat. no. 39, illus.);

2013
Clinton, NY (Ruth and Elmer Wellin Museum of Art, Hamilton College). "Affinity Atlas," October 6, 2012 - April 7, 2013 (brochure);

1992
Clinton, NY (Fred L. Emerson Gallery, Hamilton College). "Highlights from the Hamilton College Collection," June 5 - September 6, 1992 (cat. no. 120);

1984
Clinton, NY (Fred L. Emerson Gallery, Hamilton College). "Beinecke Collection," July 10 - September 5, 1984.

Provenance 1971: Hamilton College (Burke Library), by gift of Walter Beinecke, Jr.

Markings None noted.

Published References Katherine D. Alcauskas, INNOVATIVE APPROACHES, HONORED TRADITIONS: THE RUTH AND ELMER WELLIN MUSEUM OF ART AT FIVE YEARS, HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE PERMANENT COLLECTION (Clinton, NY: Wellin Museum of Art, 2017), p. 114;

Hough, Samuel J. and Penelope R.O. Hough, THE BEINECKE LESSER ANTILLES COLLECTION AT HAMILTON COLLEGE: A CATOLOGUE OF BOOKS, MANUSCRIPTS, PRINTS, MAPS, AND DRAWINGS (Trustees of Hamilton College, Clinton, NY, 1994), 333, catalogue no. P21.

HIGHLIGHTS OF THE HAMILTON COLLEGE COLLECTION (exh. cat., Emerson Gallery, Hamilton College, June 5- September 6, 1992, cat. no.120).

Signature Not signed.

Inscribed "The Quan or Guan from the West Indies" at lower left in ink.