American Furniture, Folk and Decorative Arts

Note

Rittenhouse is considered by many to have been the greatest American scientist of his day. Primarily self-taught, he became an internationally known astronomer, maker of highly prized scientific instruments, time pieces, and solar system models. Though never physically well, Rittenhouse surveyed the Pennsylvania borders with Delaware, Maryland, New York and New Jersey, completed the Mason-Dixon line, and the disputed border between Massachusetts and New York. A fervent patriot, Rittenhouse served on the Committee of Safety, Pennsylvania Assembly, Constitutional Convention of 1776, and Board of War during the Revolutionary War. Later he became Treasurer of Pennsylvania, 1792-1795 and the first director of the United States Mint. Rittenhouse taught himself a number of languages and served the University of Pennsylvania as a professor, vice provost and trustee. He was elected member of the American Philosophical Society in 1768 and served as its president.

Six months after his death, Rittenhouse was eulogized by Dr. Benjamin Rush with the United States Senate and House, both houses of the Pennsylvania legislature, George and Martha Washington, trustees of the University of Pennsylvania, College of Physicians, numerous religious, civic leaders in attendance.

For years, as evidenced by the brass plaque attached to the frame, this portrait was thought to have been the work of Ralph Earl, Sr. (1751-1801). It is registered in the Catalog of American Portraits, National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institute with Earl, Sr. as the artist. The portrait is now attributed to Earl's son, Ralph Eleaser Whiteside Earl. Stylistically dissimilar to the work of Earl, Sr.-- the artist also never signed a portrait on the verso. Though the prolific artist Earl, Jr. did not often sign his work, there are several examples signed, "R. Earl pinxt" on the verso.

Ralph E.W. Earl is best known for his many portraits of Andrew Jackson. Earl was a life-long friend and confidant to Jackson. He settled in Nashville,Tennessee, traveled with Jackson and lived in Washington, D.C. during the Jackson presidency. He also involved himself in the cultural enrichment of Nashville. Enthralled with the famous Philadelphia Museum of Charles Willson Peale, R.E.W. Earl established a similar institution, The Tennessee Museum, dedicated to educating the public in art, great men and natural history, in 1817 and served as its president until 1827. Earl was probably familiar with the portrait of Rittenhouse in Peale's Museum, as well as the sitter's scientific and patriotic significance.

See: Rachel E. Stephens, "Curious Men and Their Curiosities: Ralph E. W. Earl's Nashville Museum and the Precedent of Charles Willson Peale," Early American Studies: An Interdisciplinary Journal (2018), Vol. 16., No. 3., pg. 545-577.