Samuel Rhoades, Jr.

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Samuel Rhoades, Jr.

Artist Charles Loring Elliott (American, 1812-1868)

Date1836

DimensionsFrame: 39 5/8 × 33 5/8 × 2 3/4 in. (100.6 × 85.4 × 7 cm)

MediumOil on canvas

ClassificationPaintings

Credit LineGift of Edward H. and William H. Rhoades in memory of Mr. and Mrs. Edward H. Rhoades, Jr.

Object number

1952.139

Not on View

Label TextIn 1834 the young portrait painter Charles Loring Elliott was called from his home in Syracuse, New York to come to the village of Skaneateles to paint the dead child of a prominent merchant. Elliott ended up staying in the area for five years, painting portraits of the townspeople there. Samuel Rhoades, Jr. (1776–1850) served as lieutenant in the 159th Regiment of the New York State militia during the War of 1812. He married Electa Cleaveland (1782–1863), his second wife, in Skaneateles in 1813 (her portrait hangs nearby). The couple, depicted as distinguished citizens in sober but elegant dark clothing, paid 20 dollars for each portrait. According to a 1909 letter from the daughter of the sitters, Elliott included a gesture that captured Rhoades perfectly: he is shown “clasping his watch chain as he always did when busy talking.”Published ReferencesElliott, C., "A List of Pictures Painted by Chas. L. Elliott, Commencing on the 1st Day of May in the Year Eighteen Hundred and Thirty Four," autograph MS., NAD Archives, New York.

Barrow, J., Elliott in Skaneateles: A Paper Read Before the Onondaga Historical Association, Feb. 7, 1897, Syracuse, 1897, p. 5.

Bolton, T., "Charles Loring Elliott, An Account of his Life and Work," Art Quarterly, V, Winter, 1942, p. 64.

Slayman, James H., "The Age of Good Feeling," The Toledo Museum of Art Museum News, vol. 2, no. 2, Autumn 1959, p. 17, repr. p. 16.

Toledo Museum of Art, The Toledo Museum of Art, American Paintings, Toledo, 1979, p. 45, pl. 22.