Charleston Loan Exhibition

29 John Hopton London, England, ca. 1771 Watercolor on ivory in velvet case, 1¼ x 2 fi/* x ⁄⁄/!§ inches Historic Charleston Foundation, Charleston, SC, gift of Mrs. Henry M. Abbot, 92.5.2 From 1765 to 1769, John Hopton (1748–1831), son of merchant William Hopton (d. 1786) and Sarah Ward, clerked in the mercantile firm of notable statesman Henry Laurens. Following the completion of his apprenticeship, Laurens wrote Hopton letters of introduction and encouraged him to travel abroad to expand his business acumen. On July 31, 1770, Laurens wrote to Lisbon business associates John Stephenson and Josiah Holford that “now in prosecution of a plan which I recommended to him he [Hopton] is going to Europe, intends to visit Oporto, Lisbon, Cadiz, &ca., Amsterdam, Rotterdam, & Hamburg, London, Bristol, Liverpoole, & many of the Trading and manufacturing Cities & Towns in Great Britain.” 1 While in London, Hopton had this miniature painted by the now little-known artist Young, who is thought to have exhibited at the Society of Artists from 1767 to 1775. 2 Despite the fact that Hopton caused great scandal when he misrepresented himself to Lauren’s clients abroad, following his return to Charleston, Hopton launched his career as one of the city’s most successful merchants. In 1782, Hopton evacuated with the British during the Revolutionary War, and he lived the remainder of his life in England while maintaining close familial and business ties to Charleston. BSC 1. George C. Rogers, Jr. and David R. Chesnutt, eds. Papers of Henry Laurens Vol. 7 (Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 1979), 315. 2. Maurie McInnis and Angela Mack, In Pursuit of Refinement Charlestonians Abroad (Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 1999), 233. Savinien Edmé Dubourjal (French, 1795–ca. 1865) William Aiken Jr. France, 1829 Watercolor on ivory in original red leather case, 6½ x 5 inches Historic Charleston Foundation, Charleston, SC, gift of the heirs of Mary Green Maybank, 2000.3.20 A successful businessman, rice planter and distinguished politician, William Aiken Jr. (1806–1887) was one of the state’s wealthiest citizens and made the first of two grand tours abroad in the late 1820s after graduating from the South Carolina College in 1825. While in Paris in 1829, Aiken commissioned a miniature by Savinien Edmé Dubourjal 1 (1795–ca. 1865), a French artist most noted for his watercolor portraits. Dubourjal spent most of his life working in Paris, with a short sojourn in New York and Boston in 1846 to 1850. Although somewhat obscure, Dubourjal executed watercolor portraits of several notable American politicians including John C. Calhoun, James Knox Polk and Daniel Webster. Just five years after Dubourjal executed this portrait, Aiken inherited a grand house at 48 Elizabeth Street, in which the family resided until 1975, and Jehossee Plantation, a 4,000-acre rice plantation that would become one of the largest in the South, with a workforce of over 800 slaves by the mid-nineteenth century. Aiken served as governor of South Carolina from 1842 to 1846 in the United States House of Representatives from 1851 to 1857, during which time he was a staunch advocate for the preservation of the Union in the debate over secession. BJO 1. The artists name is spelled “Savimer Edme Dubourjal” in the 1845 Boston directory. There is some speculation as to whether or not the artist was in Philadelphia in 1817; “S. Dubouyal,” portrait painter, appears in the Philadelphia directory, living at 136, South Fifth Street.