GENERAL DESCRIPTION
The portrait of Mrs. Sims is a marvelous example of 18th-century portraiture as practiced in Europe and imported into America by ambitious itinerant painters. The detail of the sitter's highly finished coiffure, Empire-waist gown, and embroidered cloak attests to the artist's skill, as do the bold scarlet accents playing against the cool, neutral background.
Sweden's most successful 18th-century painter, Adolf Ulric Wertmüller trained at the Royal Academy in Stockholm but made his career in France. The changing political climate of the 1790s forced the expatriate painter abroad to Spain and finally to Philadelphia in 1794. Once settled in the cultural capital of the United States, Wertmüller painted George Washington, as well as other notable Philadelphia sitters.
Excerpt from
William Keyse Rudolph, DMA label text, 2006
NOTES
Created in 1808
Object File reviewed
From outline by Sara Woodbury, 2010-11 McDermott Intern, January 5, 2011
Rebecca Heath Sims (1769-October 25, 1830), wife of Joseph Sims
- Children: Wooddrop Sims (1796-1814)
- Unfortunately little is known about Rebecca Sims herself, at least nothing that has been published. We do, however, know more about her husband, Joseph Sims
- Joseph Sims (1760-1851)
- "Well-known and once opulent" Philadelphia merchant
- Store located at Pine and Water Street
- Sims also owned own wharf an dock, and possessed some of the largest ships in the merchant marine
- Two of his trading ships included the Rebecca Sims and Wooddrop Sims
- Sims employed his ships in tea trade and other "East India Luxuries"
- Rebecca Sims was refurbished a whaler, and in 1861 became one of the ships used in the "Stone Fleet" during the Civil War, when several ships were filled with stone and sunk to order to obstruct the major shipping canals in the South.
- Lived in at least two three-story brick mansions
- First one located at Third below Pine, next to St. Peter's Church
- Second one located at Ninth and Chestnut.
- Country estate located at Laurel, which would eventually become Laurel Hill Cemetery, one of the earliest garden cemeteries in the United States
- In short, the Sims were both wealthy and well-known on the Philadelphia scene. Given their prosperity during this period, it is possible, though unproven, that Rebecca's clothes were imported from France itself.
- Nothing lasts forever though, and Joseph Sims appears to have eventually lost most of his fortune, though he managed to end his days in reasonable comfort; 'But, alas! Strong as his mountain, the stronger current of adversity swept it even to the valley of humiliation, and the crisis of 1823 gave his possessions to the other owners...the rest of the property was scattered by, and to his creditors, and left him destitute for many years; but before his close of life, he was absolved of the penalty of poverty, by befitting returns to his waning years."
Catalogue essays
Artist/designers
Wertmuller, Adolf Ulric (Swedish, 1751-1811)
Cultures
Geography
Place of origin: Philadelphia (Pennsylvania/United States): TGN: 7014406
Process/materials
Historical periods
Individuals
Subject terms
RELATED OBJECTS
PROVENANCE
From 1808: Mrs. Joseph Sims, Philadelphia
n.d.: private dealer, New York
From 2006: Dallas Museum of Art, Beatrice and Patrick Haggerty Acquisition Fund
AUDIO ASSETS
VIDEO ASSETS
IMAGE ASSETS
WEB RESOURCES
- Portrait of Joseph Sims by Benjamin Trott~Check out this portrait of Rebecca Sims' husband, Joseph Sims, at the Philadelphia Museum of Art.
ARCHIVAL RESOURCES
FUN FACTS
TEACHING IDEAS
RULES
Apply to objects where number equals 2006.9
Category
rules_operator
AND
General Description
The portrait of Mrs. Sims is a marvelous example of 18th-century portraiture as practiced in Europe and imported into America by ambitious itinerant painters. The detail of the sitter's highly finished coiffure, Empire-waist gown, and embroidered cloak attests to the artist's skill, as do the bold scarlet accents playing against the cool, neutral background.
Sweden's most successful 18th-century painter, Adolf Ulric Wertmüller trained at the Royal Academy in Stockholm but made his career in France. The changing political climate of the 1790s forced the expatriate painter abroad to Spain and finally to Philadelphia in 1794. Once settled in the cultural capital of the United States, Wertmüller painted George Washington, as well as other notable Philadelphia sitters.
Excerpt from
William Keyse Rudolph, DMA label text, 2006
Fun Facts
Archival Resources
Web Resources
- Portrait of Joseph Sims by Benjamin Trott~Check out this portrait of Rebecca Sims' husband, Joseph Sims, at the Philadelphia Museum of Art.
Notes
Created in 1808
Object File reviewed
From outline by Sara Woodbury, 2010-11 McDermott Intern, January 5, 2011
Rebecca Heath Sims (1769-October 25, 1830), wife of Joseph Sims
- Children: Wooddrop Sims (1796-1814)
- Unfortunately little is known about Rebecca Sims herself, at least nothing that has been published. We do, however, know more about her husband, Joseph Sims
- Joseph Sims (1760-1851)
- "Well-known and once opulent" Philadelphia merchant
- Store located at Pine and Water Street
- Sims also owned own wharf an dock, and possessed some of the largest ships in the merchant marine
- Two of his trading ships included the Rebecca Sims and Wooddrop Sims
- Sims employed his ships in tea trade and other "East India Luxuries"
- Rebecca Sims was refurbished a whaler, and in 1861 became one of the ships used in the "Stone Fleet" during the Civil War, when several ships were filled with stone and sunk to order to obstruct the major shipping canals in the South.
- Lived in at least two three-story brick mansions
- First one located at Third below Pine, next to St. Peter's Church
- Second one located at Ninth and Chestnut.
- Country estate located at Laurel, which would eventually become Laurel Hill Cemetery, one of the earliest garden cemeteries in the United States
- In short, the Sims were both wealthy and well-known on the Philadelphia scene. Given their prosperity during this period, it is possible, though unproven, that Rebecca's clothes were imported from France itself.
- Nothing lasts forever though, and Joseph Sims appears to have eventually lost most of his fortune, though he managed to end his days in reasonable comfort; 'But, alas! Strong as his mountain, the stronger current of adversity swept it even to the valley of humiliation, and the crisis of 1823 gave his possessions to the other owners...the rest of the property was scattered by, and to his creditors, and left him destitute for many years; but before his close of life, he was absolved of the penalty of poverty, by befitting returns to his waning years."
Catalogue essays
Artist/designers
Wertmuller, Adolf Ulric (Swedish, 1751-1811)
Cultures
Geography
Place of origin: Philadelphia (Pennsylvania/United States): TGN: 7014406
Process/materials
Historical periods
Individuals
Subject terms
RELATED OBJECTS
PROVENANCE
From 1808: Mrs. Joseph Sims, Philadelphia
n.d.: private dealer, New York
From 2006: Dallas Museum of Art, Beatrice and Patrick Haggerty Acquisition Fund
AUDIO ASSETS
VIDEO ASSETS
rules
Apply To
Objects
number
Equals
2006.9
source file
object_notes_3_a-0479.xml.nores