medium QS:P186,Q296955;P186,Q12321255,P518,Q861259
Dimensions
height: 34.5 in (87.6 cm); width: 26.2 in (66.6 cm)
dimensions QS:P2048,34.5U218593
dimensions QS:P2049,26.25U218593
Notes
Lot Essay from Christie's: "Previously thought to depict Major John Berrien (1759–1815), this painting is more likely a portrait of his father, Judge John Berrien (1711–1772). The sitter holds a copy of Lex Parliamentaria, an eighteenth-century handbook for members of the English Parliament that was used extensively by American lawmakers around the time that this portrait was executed in 1789. ... The portrait’s date of 1789, seventeen years after the elder Berrien’s death, most likely led Sellers to believe it referred to the son. However, Peale often painted portraits posthumously (see for example, Peale’s 1804 portrait of James Mitchell Varnum (1748–1789) in the collections of the National Park Service) and this may have been commissioned as a memorial by a family member, possibly his son of the same name. Since going to press, Christie’s has learned that the portrait was owned by descendants of Major John Berrien before being sold out of the family in the mid-twentieth century. Although the exact descent is not known, this provenance supports the likelihood that the portrait depicts a member of the Berrien family. While it is possible that this portrait came into the family by marriage, this provenance supports the likelihood that the portrait depicts a member of the Berrien family and thus, as noted above, most probably Judge John Berrien."
Christie's, LotFinder: entry 5821702 (sale 2876, lot 46, New York, 22 September 2014)
Licensing
This is a faithful photographic reproduction of a two-dimensional, public domain work of art. The work of art itself is in the public domain for the following reason:
Public domainPublic domainfalsefalse
The author died in 1827, so this work is in the public domain in its country of origin and other countries and areas where the copyright term is the author's life plus 100 years or fewer.
https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/PDMCreative Commons Public Domain Mark 1.0falsefalse
The official position taken by the Wikimedia Foundation is that "faithful reproductions of two-dimensional public domain works of art are public domain". This photographic reproduction is therefore also considered to be in the public domain in the United States. In other jurisdictions, re-use of this content may be restricted; see Reuse of PD-Art photographs for details.
Captions
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