Charleston Loan Exhibition

32 Edward Greene Malbone (American, 1777–1807) Eliza Izard (Mrs. Thomas Pinckney Jr.) Charleston, SC, 1801 Watercolor on ivory, 2 ‡/* x 2 ‹/* inches Lent by Gibbes Museum of Art/Carolina Art Association, Charleston, SC, 1939.04.0004 Edward Greene Malbone (American, 1777–1807) Colonel Thomas Pinckney Jr . Charleston, SC, 1801-1802 Watercolor on ivory, 3 x 2 ‹/* inches Lent by Gibbes Museum of Art/Carolina Art Association, Charleston, SC, 1939.04.0003 In a series of letters written between Thomas Pinckney Jr. (1780–1842) and his cousin Harriott Pinckney, Thomas unabashedly revealed his affection for Eliza Izard (1784–1862), whom he would marry in 1803. Documents indicate that both Thomas and Eliza sat for miniatures between December 1801 and January 1802 in the Charleston studio of Edward Greene Malbone (1777–1807), an American-born portraitist. Although they appear as a pair, these portraits were more likely painted as separate commissions—Eliza’s in 1801, as indicated by the signature and date on the front, and Thomas Pinckney’s in 1802 as revealed in his letters to Harriott. Known for his ability to render small-scale works and for capturing the most handsome features of his subjects, Malbone had a successful, although short career painting wealthy clientele in New York, Philadelphia, Charleston and Savannah. Creating a sense of depth, Malbone employs cross-hatching in the background of both miniatures, and the figures are executed with fine stippling and washed color, techniques common to Malbone’s work. 1 The artist captured the sophistication and elegance of Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Pinckney Jr. whose esteemed families were counted among the most prominent in South Carolina. BJO 1. Ruel P. Tolman, “Newly Discovered Miniatures by Edward Greene Malbone,” The Magazine Antiques , Vol. 16, No. 5 (November 1929): 377–384.