Richard and William Jennys (FL. CA 1766-1801, FL. CA 1793-1807)

Descended in family through Maria Apphia Lane Wright (grand-daughter of sitters);
Wright Family;
Metropolitan Museum of Art (loan, 1945);
Kennedy Galleries, New York;
Anita and Irvin Schorsch;
Kennedy Galleries, New York, 1976.

New York, New York, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1945.

Elizabeth Mankin Kornhauser, Ralph Earl: The Face of the Young Republic (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press; Hartford, CT: Wadsworth Atheneum, 1991), pp. 58-9, figs. I. 37 and I.38.

They both have wax linings, cleaned and re-stretched. He has scattered in-painting in the background and a repaired tear above the right eye which is about 3 inches in length. She has some minor scattered in-painting in the background and a few spots of in-painting on the forehead. They both have heavy varnish.
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The pair of portraits of Lazarus Ruggles (1730-1797) and Hannah Bostwick Ruggles (1736-1812) are the epitome of sober, serious, established members of the rising aristocracy of the Connecticut River Valley.

Lazarus Ruggles, the son of Captain Joseph Ruggles, was an influential farmer and owner of iron works at Still River Falls, near New Milford, Connecticut. He married Hannah Bostwick in September of 1753 and together they had thirteen children.¹ Their daughter Apphia Ruggles (1755-1818) and her husband Jared Lane (1745-1818), were painted by Ralph Earl (1751-1801) in 1796.

In the 1790’s, Jennys made his career in New Milford, Connecticut – eventually executing over 35 portrait commissions there, before moving on to New York City. William Jennys has long been associated with Richard Jennys – but William’s style is richer and more pliant – with strongly illumined modeling and great attention and rendering of detail.  The present portraits of Mr. and Mrs. Ruggles are handsome and powerful if somewhat austere evocations of their appearance and character.

Jared Lane’s account book provides important details about the working styles, costs, materials, and conditions of both Richard and William Jennys and Ralph Earl.² In 1795, Lane noted that the Jennyses painted these portraits of the Mr. and Mrs. Ruggles, along with four other bust-length portraits that included one of his wife Apphia (unlocated).  Betsey Kornhauser writes that:

“In addition, Jared Lane paid the local cabinetmaker, Levi Knapp, for ‘5 small picture Frames,’ and one month later, he paid ‘Richard & William Jennys for Varnishing’ his family portraits, along with the portraits of his parents-in-law, Capt. Lazarus Ruggles and Hannah Ruggles.”³

In 1796, Jared Lane commissioned Ralph Earl to paint portraits of himself and his wife and a landscape of his father-in-law’s homestead.⁴

1. Lorraine Cook White, ed.The Barbour Collection of Connecticut Town Vital Records.Vol. 1-55 (Baltimore, MD, USA: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1994-2002).
2. Elizabeth Mankin Kornhauser, Ralph Earl: The Face of the Young Republic (New Haven: Hartford, 1991), pp. 58-59.
3. Ibid.
4. Ibid., 206., illus. 53.