GENERAL DESCRIPTION
Edward Nightingale's informal gray dressing gown indicates that he is a man of leisure and, therefore, wealth and education. He sits in his library deep in thought, a pose typically associated with literary figures. Since gentlemen of his time shaved their heads and wore wigs, it is not unusual for Nightingale to wear a turban to protect his head from the cold while relaxing informally at home. Nightingale, a Cambridge graduate and lawyer, commissioned John Smibert to paint his portrait after the sitter returned to London following a grand tour of Europe. This tour was customary for wealthy Englishmen as a capstone of their formal education. The portrait announces Nightingale's position as an educated traveler and connoisseur. When the artist immigrated to the American colonies, he painted wealthy colonists as if they were English aristocrats like Mr. Nightingale.
Excerpt from
Gail Davitt, DMA Exhibition label text, 1997.
NOTES
Changed from "Nightengale" to "Nightingale" on 7/18/13 by Sue Canterbury
Full citation for Gen. Descr.: Gail Davitt, DMA Exhibition Label Copy (1993.75) for Faces of a New Nation: Colonial American Portraits (October 19, 1997- January 10, 1998), September 1997.---This was an experimental type of label, set up in lines like poetry and the education department tested responses.
General Description full citation: Davitt, DMA Exhibition Label Copy (1993.75) for Faces of a New Nation: Colonial American Portraits (October 19, 1997- January 10, 1998), September 1997. [Fax to Eleanor Jones Harvey with these label drafts found in educaiton files, and as an undated "American Portraits" research document, Education files.]
"Smibert's painting Edward Nightengale was painted several years before he painted Eleanor Nightengale, between 1722 and 1724. Smibert had just returned from three years in Italy, where he had completed his artistic studies. Edward is depicted as a gentleman of leisure, seated in his library in dressing gown and turban. His pose and manner is in keeping with the tradition of portraits painted on the Grand Tour (notably by Pompeo Batoni), connoting the sitter's wealth and position as an educated traveler and connoisseur. Edward Nightengale was a young lawyer when he commissioned Smibert to paint his portrait. In pose, this painting serves as the prototype for Copley's portrait of Nicholas Boylston (MFA Boston), complete with a seated figure in dressing gown and turban, underscoring the extent of the debt colonial painters owed to Smibert's example."
Eleanor Jones Harvey, Object Summary, 10 January 1994
Sir Edward Nightingale, 7th Baronet (1696-c.1750)
Piece of loose leaf paper in Object File: "Painted 1727 as a pair/have been together since then/owned privately in Washington D.C./owner wants them to stay together" unsure of author
Exhibition: Faces of a New Nation: Colonial American Portraits October 19, 1997-January 10, 1998 Exhibition ID: 1549
Book: Richard H. Saunders, John Smibert: Colonial America's First Portrait Painter, Yale University Press: New Haven and London, 1995.
Related Objects
1993.76 Smibert, Eleanor Nightingale
From EAS Dropbox Smibert Nightingale label July 2013:
Although painted in London, this set of elegant portraits of a young pair of British aristocrats displays all the traits that would make Scottish-born John Smibert the leading painter in colonial America after he immigrated to the New World in 1729. The artist presents Edward and Eleanor Nightingale as confident, young, attractive, and fashionable, from Eleanor's glistening silk wrapper to Edward's relaxed Turkish robe and headdress (18th-century gentlemen left their powdered wigs off at home or among friends). Smibert trained in the studio of Sir Godfrey Kneller, leading court painter of the early 18th century. From him, he mastered the conventions of high-society portraiture, shown here not just by the Nightingales' informal dress but also by their poses, as well as the background accessories that situate them as cultured sitters.
Smibert came to America inadvertently. Persuaded to join the faculty of a projected missionary college in Bermuda, he made it as far as Rhode Island when royal funds for the institution never materialized. Smibert settled in Boston, where his influence as the first fully professionally trained artist in America had far-reaching effects. Not only did other artists soon imitate Smibert's compositions but the copies of old masters he had intended to use as teaching resources in the unrealized school—as well as his other studio contents—exposed a generation of young native-born artists to examples of European art.
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Artist/designers
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Place of origin: London (England): TGN: 7011781
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Sir Edward Nightingale
Eleanor Nightingale
Subject terms
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PROVENANCE
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WEB RESOURCES
- Nightingale Coat of Arms~See the Nightingale family coat of arms in Debrett's Baronetage of England at archive.org.
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General Description
Edward Nightingale's informal gray dressing gown indicates that he is a man of leisure and, therefore, wealth and education. He sits in his library deep in thought, a pose typically associated with literary figures. Since gentlemen of his time shaved their heads and wore wigs, it is not unusual for Nightingale to wear a turban to protect his head from the cold while relaxing informally at home. Nightingale, a Cambridge graduate and lawyer, commissioned John Smibert to paint his portrait after the sitter returned to London following a grand tour of Europe. This tour was customary for wealthy Englishmen as a capstone of their formal education. The portrait announces Nightingale's position as an educated traveler and connoisseur. When the artist immigrated to the American colonies, he painted wealthy colonists as if they were English aristocrats like Mr. Nightingale.
Excerpt from
Gail Davitt, DMA Exhibition label text, 1997.
Fun Facts
Archival Resources
Web Resources
- Nightingale Coat of Arms~See the Nightingale family coat of arms in Debrett's Baronetage of England at archive.org.
Notes
Changed from "Nightengale" to "Nightingale" on 7/18/13 by Sue Canterbury
Full citation for Gen. Descr.: Gail Davitt, DMA Exhibition Label Copy (1993.75) for Faces of a New Nation: Colonial American Portraits (October 19, 1997- January 10, 1998), September 1997.---This was an experimental type of label, set up in lines like poetry and the education department tested responses.
General Description full citation: Davitt, DMA Exhibition Label Copy (1993.75) for Faces of a New Nation: Colonial American Portraits (October 19, 1997- January 10, 1998), September 1997. [Fax to Eleanor Jones Harvey with these label drafts found in educaiton files, and as an undated "American Portraits" research document, Education files.]
"Smibert's painting Edward Nightengale was painted several years before he painted Eleanor Nightengale, between 1722 and 1724. Smibert had just returned from three years in Italy, where he had completed his artistic studies. Edward is depicted as a gentleman of leisure, seated in his library in dressing gown and turban. His pose and manner is in keeping with the tradition of portraits painted on the Grand Tour (notably by Pompeo Batoni), connoting the sitter's wealth and position as an educated traveler and connoisseur. Edward Nightengale was a young lawyer when he commissioned Smibert to paint his portrait. In pose, this painting serves as the prototype for Copley's portrait of Nicholas Boylston (MFA Boston), complete with a seated figure in dressing gown and turban, underscoring the extent of the debt colonial painters owed to Smibert's example."
Eleanor Jones Harvey, Object Summary, 10 January 1994
Sir Edward Nightingale, 7th Baronet (1696-c.1750)
Piece of loose leaf paper in Object File: "Painted 1727 as a pair/have been together since then/owned privately in Washington D.C./owner wants them to stay together" unsure of author
Exhibition: Faces of a New Nation: Colonial American Portraits October 19, 1997-January 10, 1998 Exhibition ID: 1549
Book: Richard H. Saunders, John Smibert: Colonial America's First Portrait Painter, Yale University Press: New Haven and London, 1995.
Related Objects
1993.76 Smibert, Eleanor Nightingale
From EAS Dropbox Smibert Nightingale label July 2013:
Although painted in London, this set of elegant portraits of a young pair of British aristocrats displays all the traits that would make Scottish-born John Smibert the leading painter in colonial America after he immigrated to the New World in 1729. The artist presents Edward and Eleanor Nightingale as confident, young, attractive, and fashionable, from Eleanor's glistening silk wrapper to Edward's relaxed Turkish robe and headdress (18th-century gentlemen left their powdered wigs off at home or among friends). Smibert trained in the studio of Sir Godfrey Kneller, leading court painter of the early 18th century. From him, he mastered the conventions of high-society portraiture, shown here not just by the Nightingales' informal dress but also by their poses, as well as the background accessories that situate them as cultured sitters.
Smibert came to America inadvertently. Persuaded to join the faculty of a projected missionary college in Bermuda, he made it as far as Rhode Island when royal funds for the institution never materialized. Smibert settled in Boston, where his influence as the first fully professionally trained artist in America had far-reaching effects. Not only did other artists soon imitate Smibert's compositions but the copies of old masters he had intended to use as teaching resources in the unrealized school—as well as his other studio contents—exposed a generation of young native-born artists to examples of European art.
Catalogue essays
Artist/designers
Cultures
Geography
Place of origin: London (England): TGN: 7011781
Process/materials
Historical periods
Individuals
Sir Edward Nightingale
Eleanor Nightingale
Subject terms
RELATED OBJECTS
PROVENANCE
AUDIO ASSETS
VIDEO ASSETS
rules
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