Rufus Hathaway Explained

Rufus Hathaway (1770–1822) was an American physician and folk art painter. He lived in southern Massachusetts, where he painted numerous portraits between 1790 and 1795.^[1] He later studied medicine and established himself as a doctor at Duxbury.^[2]

Hathway was born in Freetown, Massachusetts, and was the eldest of six children born to Asa Hathaway and Mary Phillips;^[1] his father and grandfather were ship carpenters.^[3] The family moved several times, settling in Bristol, Rhode Island in the mid-1780s.^[2] The source of Hathaway's artistic training is unknown, though it is believed he may have worked as a decorative artist or apprentice ship-carver; as a painter he appears to have been self-taught.^[2] He is known to have been active in the vicinity of Taunton, Massachusetts in 1790.^[4] Hathaway arrived in Duxbury in 1791, and began painting portraits of members of locally prominent families. In 1795 he married Judith Winsor, the daughter of a locally important merchant. He took up medicine at this time, possibly at the behest of his new wife's family,^[4] studying with Dr. Isaac Winslow of Marshfield.^[5] He seems to have abandoned painting, as very few works by his hand are known after the time of his marriage,^[1] although paintings dating to as late as 1808 have been documented.^[4] Hathaway had twelve children by Judith; at one time the only physician in Duxbury, he was highly respected in the field, and was elected Honorary Fellow of the Massachusetts Medical Society shortly before his death.^[1] One of his granddaughters was the abolitionist and suffragist Judith Winsor Smith,^[6] and surgeon Frederick Winsor was a great-nephew.^[7]

Thirty-three portraits by Hathaway are known to exist, dating almost exclusively to the years between 1790 and 1795;^[1] all are of relatives and friends,^[8] among them the educator and politician George Partridge.^[9] He also painted landscapes, portrait miniatures, and overmantels.^{[2] [4]} One genre painting, the Welch Curate of about 1800, is documented; it was adapted from an English mezzotint. Furthermore, he is known to have created at least one wood carving, a figure of an eagle used to crown a temporary arch constructed to inaugurate a new bridge over the Bluefish River,^[4] and he carved the frames to some of his paintings.

Hathaway died of a hernia incurred while lifting a patient, traditionally held to be Ezra Weston, and is buried in the Mayflower Cemetery in Duxbury.^[10] His epitaph, which he may have composed himself, relates to his career as a physician.^[4] He was survived by Judith, who would go on to live to be 102, and left his heirs a little more than 700 pounds at his death.^[10]

A bill of sale for six portraits of the Weston family exists, dating to 1793; it indicates that the paintings cost six pounds, and that Hathaway charged a further three shillings for the frame on the portrait of Ezra Weston.^[11] In 2006, a pair of portraits, of Josiah Dean III and his wife, Sarah, were sold at Sotheby's, together fetching $380,000.^[12]

Selected works

• Lady with Her Pets, 1790, Metropolitan Museum of Art: his earliest known work^[13]
• Joseph Robertson Tolman, c. 1795, formerly Whitney Museum of American Art, New York (sold 1999)^[14]
• Sylvia Church Weston Sampson, 1793, Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, Connecticut^[15]
• Lucy Winsor, c. 1794, Baltimore Museum of Art, Baltimore, Maryland
• Joshua Winsor (1748–1827), 1793, formerly New England Historic Genealogical Society, Boston, Massachusetts (sold)^[16]
• Seth Winsor, c. 1793–95, RISD Museum^[17]
• A View of Mr. Joshua Winsor's House & c., c. 1793–95, American Folk Art Museum^[18]
• three portraits (of Ezra Weston II, his wife Jerusha, and his daughter Maria), Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Folk Art Museum (attributed) ^{[19] [20] [21]}

External links

• Rufus Hathaway at Artcyclopedia

Notes and References

1. Web site: Vose Galleries – Rufus Hathaway. vosegalleries.com. 7 February 2015.
2. Web site: Rufus Hathaway. oxfordreference.com. 7 February 2015.
3. http://theduxburyfile.wikispaces.com/file/view/June+17,+1987.pdf 'Primitive' artist's work offers glimpse of past
4. Book: Gerard C. Wertkin. Encyclopedia of American Folk Art. registration. 2 August 2004. Routledge. 978-1-135-95615-8. 250–.
5. Book: Albert TenEyck Gardner, Stuart P. Feld. American Paintings: A Catalogue of the Collection of The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Vol. 1, Painters Born by 1815. Metropolitan Museum of Art. 116–. GGKEY:FFP93GZGZGS.
6. Web site: Judith Winsor Smith. drewarchives.org. 6 November 2012 . 7 February 2015.
7. Web site: Winsor, Frederick. Drew Archival Library. 8 December 2014 . 7 February 2015.
8. Book: Joan M. Marter. The Grove Encyclopedia of American Art. 2011. Oxford University Press. 978-0-19-533579-8. 1–.
9. Book: Margaret C. S. Christman. National Portrait Gallery (Smithsonian Institution). United States. Congress. The first federal congress, 1789-1791. 17 March 1989. Smithsonian Institution Press for the National Portrait Gallery and the United States Congress. 978-0-87474-313-5.
10. Web site: Mayflower Cemetery tour sheds light on 19th century. Duxbury Clipper. 22 December 2017.
11. Book: Nina F. Little. Little by Little: Six Decades of Collecting American Decorative Arts. registration. 1 September 1984. E.P. Dutton. 978-0-525-24265-9.
12. Web site: Josiah Dean III and his wife, Sarah by Rufus Hathaway – Blouin Art Sales Index. artinfo.com. 8 February 2015.
13. Web site: Rufus Hathaway – Lady with Her Pets (Molly Wales Fobes) – The Metropolitan Museum of Art. metmuseum.org. 7 February 2015.
14. Web site:
    • Rufus Hathaway (1770–1822)
    . Invaluable.com. 7 February 2015.
15. Web site: Sylvia Church Weston Sampson. yale.edu. 7 February 2015. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20150207234308/http://artgallery.yale.edu/collections/objects/sylvia-church-weston-sampson. 7 February 2015.
16. New York Media, LLC. New York Magazine. Newyorkmetro.com. 25 July 1988. New York Media, LLC. 43–. 0028-7369.
17. Web site: Portrait of Seth Winsor. risdmuseum.org. 7 February 2015.
18. Web site: Collection – American Folk Art Museum. folkartmuseum.org. 7 February 2015.
19. http://emuseum.history.org/view/objects/asitem/Objects@13844/1/title-desc;jsessionid=51DA85019289A5D8FBDF7D7D96F0FA58?t:state:flow=e5b8b1ef-d522-40ff-aef3-cefd2199053c Portrait of Ezra Weston
20. http://emuseum.history.org/view/objects/asitem/Objects@58761/0?t:state:flow=df46d398-7d17-4eef-91f9-59d9a9f0b8a5 Portrait of Jerusha Bradford Weston
21. http://emuseum.history.org/view/objects/asitem/Objects@13733/0?t:state:flow=7b3fa7cc-f29f-4d3f-8f20-d701cfad119f Portrait of Maria Weston