John Hesselius 1728 - 1778

Descended in the family of the sitters;
C.G. Sloan and Co. Auctions, Inc, Washington, D.C., September 20, 1979, lot 2152.

Wilmington, Delaware, Delaware Antiques Show, 1992, no. 47.

Richard Doud, "The Fitzhugh Portraits by J. Hesselius," Virginia Magazine of History and Biography, vol. 75, April 1967, p. 159, no. 2;
Winterthur Portfolio, vol. 5, p.129;
Brewsaw, William and Mary Quarterly, XXXXII, #2, 3rd. series, April 1975, p. 298.

Both portraits have been relined, re-stretched, scattered in-painting, fly specks and abrasions commensurate with age throughout. Portrait of Mr. Knox appears to be in a modern frame.
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Hesselius most likely born in Philadelphia, then decamped to Williamsburg and Yorktown to find better prospects for portrait commissions, out of the shadow of better known portrait artists such as John Wollaston (active 1742-1775) and Robert Feke (1707-1752). He successfully established himself there as a virtual ‘court painter’ of prominent members of the Virginia aristocracy. Starting in 1751, he painted six portraits of the Fitzhughs – one of the First Families of Virginia. Ultimately, he painted five generations of the Fitzhugh family. William Knox (1736-1806) married Suzannah Stuart Fitzhugh (1757-1823) in 1767.

In a letter from Douglas Gordon, a Fitzhugh descendant, to Anita Schorsch, dated November 6, 1976, Mr. Gordon says, “The Fitzhughs were one of the most important land-owning families in Virginia – who lived like prosperous English landowners of their period.”

The stretcher on the painting of Mr. William Knox is inscribed William Knox, Gentleman of Windsor Lodge, Culpeper Co., Va., he came from near Paisley of Renfrewshire Scotland and married Suzannah Fitzhugh of Bascobel Stafford Co. V.- On the side stretcher: 1771 and Property of Robert S. Knox, Lt. Col. Inf., and on the other stretcher, These original portraits belong to Rob.S. Knox.