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Purchase of Smithson Portrait

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Title:
Purchase of Smithson Portrait
Date:
January 11, 1850
Notes:
Image is the Smithson Portrait, National Portrait Gallery, http://npgportraits.si.edu/eMuseumNPG/media/full/9600056a.jpg, negative number NPG.96.28
Annual Report of the Smithsonian Institution for the year 1849, p. 46, 51
Annual Report of the Smithsonian Institution for the year 1877, p. 9
Summary:
The Board of Regents authorizes Smithsonian Secretary Joseph Henry to purchase a small portrait painted by James Roberts of Mr. James Smithson whose bequest founded the Smithsonian The portrait is now in the possession of Mrs. John Fitall, widow of a servant of the late Mr. Smithson. On June 1, 1850, Henry reports that the painting has been received from England. In the 1877 Annual Report, Henry lists all the existing portraits of Smithson. He describes this one as a small full-length picture that represents Smithson in the costume of a student at Oxford University. This portrait is now on display in the Crypt Room of the Smithsonian Institution Building or "Castle."
Topics:
Accessions, Art objects, Exhibitions, Portraits, Museums--Acquisitions, Secretaries, Students
Subjects:
Fitall, John, Fitall, Mrs. John, Henry, Joseph 1797-1878, Smithson, James 1765-1829, Roberts, James 1753 -c. 1809, Board of Regents, Smithsonian Institution Building (Washington, D.C.), Oxford University
Category:
Chronology of Smithsonian History
Full Record:
http://siris-sihistory.si.edu/ipac20/ipac.jsp?&profile=all&source=~!sichronology&uri=full=3100001~!313~!0#focus
Purchase of Smithson Portrait, January 11, 1850, Smithsonian Archives - History Div.

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