$3,321
Zedekiah Belknap (Massachusetts, Connecticut, New Hampshire, 1781-1858) Portrait of Samuel Joseph Claghorn (1787-1840) Unsigned. Oil on panel, 30 x 24 1/2 in., in the likely original gilt-gesso frame. Condition: Minor retouch, abrasions, surface grime. Provenance: Descended in the family from the sitter, who is the brother of the consignor's father's great-great-grandmother. Note: According to genealogical research done by the consignor, Samuel Claghorn was born in Tisbury, Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts. His great-grandfather was Thomas Claghorn, who ran Claghorn Tavern on the island. His father was Joseph Claghorn, who served in the Revolutionary War as a seaman and sailmaker's mate. Samuel, for his part, refused his inheritance to the Barony of Claghorn in Scotland (which would have forced him to relinquish his American citizenship), preferring to make his way in the United States instead. He moved to Norwich, Connecticut, with his wife Philura Paine Spaulding (1798-1886) in 1812, where his children were born, and where Belknap was likely commissioned for this portrait. There they stayed until 1829, when the family again moved, this time to Savannah, Georgia, where Samuel founded a ship's chandlery. He died in Savannah in 1840.
Auctioneer:
Skinner
Date:
2016-11-19
