Charleston Loan Exhibition

28 Charles Fraser (American, 1782–1860) Nathaniel Russell (1738 – 1820) Charleston, SC, 1818 Watercolor on ivory in original case, 3 Á/• x 2 ⁄‹/!§ inches; 6 ‡/• x 5¼ x ½ (case) inches Inscribed: Fraser/Painter , below in pencil Mr. Russell of Charleston/from life by C.Fraser/Painter Historic Charleston Foundation, Charleston, SC, gift of Mrs. Henry M. Abbot, 92.5.3 Born in Bristol, Rhode Island, Nathaniel Russell came to Charleston at the age of twenty-seven. He was such a successful merchant that he rose to a position of great wealth and prominence in his adopted city. Internationally connected, he frequently corresponded and partnered with the most successful businessmen of his day, including Aaron Lopez (1731–1782) and Nicholas Brown (1729–1791) of Rhode Island and Elias Derby (1739–1799) of Massachusetts. 1 At the age of seventy, Russell built one of the grandest federal-style dwellings in America at 51 Meeting Street, now operated as a house museum by Historic Charleston Foundation. Renowned Charleston artist Charles Fraser painted this miniature of Russell only a few years before Russell’s death. The entry for the commission is the first in Fraser’s account book, dated 1818 to 1839, showing Russell paid fifty dollars for his miniature. Although Fraser rarely left his native Charleston, his work was widely admired and he corresponded with the nation’s most notable individuals, including John C. Calhoun, the Marquis de Lafayette and George Washington, as well as the artists Gilbert Stuart, Thomas Sully and John Trumbull. 2 BSC 1. Culp and Fielding Freed, Grandeur Preserved : The House Museums of Historic Charleston Foundation (Charleston, SC: The History Press, 2008), 1–2. 2. Martha R. Severens and Charles L. Wyrick Jr., Charles Fraser of Charleston, Essays on the Man, His Art and His Times (Charleston, SC: Carolina Art Association, 1983), 1–2. Louis Antoine Collas (French, 1775–1856) Mrs. John Izard Middleton (Sarah McPherson Alston) Charleston, SC, ca. 1817 Oil on porcelain, Diam. 4¾ inches; 11 ‡/• x 11 ‡/• x 3 (framed) inches Historic Charleston Foundation, Charleston, SC, gift of Mr. Thomas F. Cadwalader, 58.5.1 Long thought to be Eliza Falconet, this portrait by Louis Antoine Collas (1775–1856) is more likely Sarah McPherson Alston (ca. 1810–1878), the only daughter of John Ashe Alston (1780–1832) and Sarah McPherson (1785–1812), who married John Izard Middleton (1800–1877) in 1828. Highly esteemed for his synthesis of French and American miniature portrait styles of the early-nineteenth century, Louis Antoine Collas traveled to Charleston between 1816 and 1818 where he encountered a bustling metropolis and affluent clientele eager to patronize the arts. He remained in the city for several years before moving on to New Orleans in 1819, establishing himself as one of that city’s leading miniaturists. Seated in front of a neoclassical arch, Sarah is shown against a romanticized natural landscape, a typical feature of French portraiture of the period. BJO