Collections record Beta

Portrait Miniature - William Smith Tallmadge

1914-02-1

Oval, bust-length portrait miniature depicting a young man with brown hair, eyes, and sideburns. Sitter wears a black coat with white shirt and tie. Background of pastel pink, blue, and white. Miniature set in brass oval with rope-cut design, which is then set into frame. Square frame of black wood with rose clip and loop at top.

SITTER: Lt. Colonel William Smith Tallmadge (1785-1822) was the oldest child of Colonel Benjamin and Mary Floyd Tallmadge, named for his uncle who died of starvation in a British prison. As an adult, William was a representative for B. Tallmadge & Co. in New York. He served in the War of 1812 as Lt. Colonel for the 46th United States Infantry. He died unmarried in Leicester (formerly Moscow), New York, in 1822 at the age of 37. ARTIST: Born in Milton, a village in the town of Litchfield, Anson Dickinson began advertising himself as a miniature painter in 1802. He traveled to New York in 1804, where he was painted by Edward Greene Malbone, the leading American miniaturist of his day. Dickinson painted over 1,500 miniatures over the course of fifty years, traveling as far as Canada and South Carolina to paint. He kept a studio in New York for a period, and returned frequently to Litchfield where he painted prominent residents and students of the Female Academy and Law School.

• Dickinson, Anson, 1779-1852

1812

3" X 2 1/2" OVAL

• glass
• ivory
• brass
• watercolor
• wood