Object Record
Images
Metadata
Title |
Burwell Bassett |
Object Number |
M.1960.837 |
Object Type |
Painting, Miniature |
Artist/Creator |
Peale, Charles Willson (1741-1827) |
Date |
1778 and 1793 |
Place of Origin |
United States of America |
Description |
Oval, bust-length watercolor-on-ivory portrait miniature of Burwell Bassett (1734-1793), delegate to the Virginia Convention during the Revolutionary War, by Charles Willson Peale (1741-1827), 1778. The sitter is slightly angled to the proper left and looking off to the proper right. He has white powdered hair, pale skin, and blue eyes. He is wearing civilian dress consisting of a green coat, white waistcoat, and white shirt and jabot. On a plain light blue background. The back of the miniature case contains an oval, watercolor-on-ivory mourning scene painted by an unidentified American artist, 1793. The scene memorializes Burwell Bassett (the subject of the portrait on the front of the miniature) and George Augustine Washington (1763-1793), an officer in the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War, an original member of the Society of the Cincinnati in the State of Virginia, and the first husband of Frances Bassett Washington Lear (1767-1796, daughter of Burwell Bassett). A woman wearing a brown-and-white toned cloak and long dress sits beneath a weeping willow tree to the left of two funerary monuments, each consisting of a rectangular base topped with an urn. Some of the decoration of the foliage at the left contains chopped hair. The base of the monument on the left side is inscribed "G.A.W. / OB. 5th Feb. / 1793." The base of the monument on the right side is inscribed "B.B. / OB. 4 Jan. / 1793." Dark clouds gather directly above the two monuments. Above are white clouds and a light blue sky, with a winged female figure holding a banner which reads "Sorrow not / with[out] Hope." In an oval, rose gold locket-style case with a narrow beaded edge, a convex cover glass, and a later hinged tapered bail with a beaded edge at the top. The back has a wider edge around an oval opening for the mourning scene protected by a cover glass, and a later horizontal brass pin soldered onto the case at either side. |
Materials |
Watercolor/Ivory/Hair/Gold/Glass/Brass |
Dimensions |
2 1/8" h x 1 3/8" w x 1/4" d |
Credit Line |
Gift of Burwell Bassett Smith, 1960 |