Charleston, South Carolina and Jeremiah Theus' Painting

Portrait of John Dart, a citizen of Charleston, South Carolina, painted by Swiss-born painter Jeremiah Theus, in Charleston, South Carolina in the years 1772-74; As the painting suggests, Charleston was a wealthy city filled with aristocrats able and willing to pay for luxury goods such as portraits. 

http://dighist.fas.harvard.edu/courses/2017/hist1002/files/original/5830cdbc38fcdd861a541226af339426.pdf

A citizen of Charleston promotes an auction selling imported goods such as silk, Irish linens, and sugar; Like the painting, this newspaper highlights the tremendous wealth circulating throughout Charleston during the Revolution.

Colonial Charleston, South Carolina was a hub of trade and wealth. During the last quarter of the 1700s, it was “the most affluent and largest city in the South and the leading port and trading center for the southern colonies.”[1] It’s citizens’ houses were “filled with both American made and imported furniture, decorative arts, and paintings.”[2] A copy of the South Carolina Weekly Gazette from 1783 filled with advertisements for furniture, sugar, rum, and specialty cloth such as silk supports the idea that Charleston was a rich cosmopolitan center in the colonies. It is no surprise, then, that artist Jerimiah Theus chose Charleston and its wealthy residents as the backdrop to his paintings. After moving from Switzerland to South Carolina in 1730, Theus made a living by painting the richest people in Charleston.[3] Theus’ portrait of Charleston lawyer John Dart captures the luxurious feel of the city that is expressed in the copy of the South Carolina Weekly Gazette.

Theus’ “John Dart” is an oil on canvas, and about about 2 feet by 2.5 feet.[4] The portrait is quite small, and Mr. Dart’s bust takes up at least 70% of the canvas in way that makes him look too big for his own painting. The small size of the canvas in combination with the close up of the subject makes Dart appear larger than life. Dart poses regally, his back straight and his head tilted slightly away from the viewer while he maintains eye contact, and wears an ornate blue coat with elegant gold buttons. A neutral grey-brown background contrasts with the subject’s warm complexion and colorful garb to give Dart a very regal air. The overall royal vibe that John Dart’s portrait exudes is unsurprising, since artist Theus was known for crafting his paintings in a traditional English style. Though this particular portrait is maybe a bit large to be considered a traditional “portrait miniature,” Theus painted “the earliest known American miniatures,” which were “adapted from European models, particularly from English painting of the Rococo period.”[5] Theus painted his works with old, elegant England in mind, and Dart’s portrait is no exception. This painting effectively captures the spirit of Charleston, South Carolina in the late 1700s: elegant, wealthy, and a center of trade for luxe items that were either from abroad, or styled in such a way as to make them look like they were from abroad.

Advertisements from the South Carolina Weekly Gazette from 1783 confirm Charleston as a wealthy city filled with wealthy people looking to buy elegant, imported goods. The Charleston presented by these advertisements is an appropriate place for John Dart’s regal, English-style portrait to have been commissioned. One advertisement reads “At our Auction-Room, on Tuesday, February 18, will be sold, at ten o’clock… Irish Linens, Cambricks, Cotton Checks, Nankeens, Rum, Sugar… Silk Mits…”[6] The list goes on, but just this short segment, like John Dart’s portrait, confirms the idea that Charleston was the wealthiest city in the Southern Colonies during this time period. Cambric, also known as batiste, is one of the finest types of fabrics and comes from France.[7] Nankeen is a “brownish yellow cotton fabric originally loomed by hand in China.”[8] Likewise, silk is also a lavish good that was most likely imported into the colonies. Irish linens, rum, and sugar came from foreign sources as well. Other luxury items to be sold at the auction include “Coffee, Butter, Ship Bread, Pease, Two good Drums, Swivel Guns, Breeches Patterns, Thread and Worsted Hose… A Cabouse, with two -- Coppers, Old Sails, Anchors, --, A Number of empty – Casts…”[9] People living in Charleston South Carolina clearly had the means and the desire to purchase high-end goods and commission regal portraits of themselves. Around the time of the revolution, Charleston flourished and its citizens had more wealth than the average colonial.

During the last part of the 1700s, Charleston was the wealthiest city in the Southern Colonies. Its citizens purchased expensive, imported linens and food products and had portraits commissioned of themselves that were painted in a traditional English style and exuded elegance and regal status. Jerimiah Theus’ painting of Charleston lawyer John Dart effectively demonstrates the affluent, sophisticated air Charleston had at the time. Charlestonians filled their homes with portraits like the one of Dart, along with other valuable, ornate items. The advertisement in the South Carolina Weekly Gazette furthers the claim that Charleston was a rich hub for trading and buying exotic goods. There was a strong market for luxury items in Charleston because of its exceptional wealth and success. One might wonder, then, why any citizens in Charleston would want to split from Britain. The city experienced tremendous success under English rule, as evident by the eclectic goods for sale according to the daily newspaper and the expensive portraits that were so in demand, a Swiss painter moved to South Carolina and was able to make his living. Additionally, Theus’ painting harkens back to old English traditions and may have even specifically been commissioned to emulate a royal British portrait. Does this not suggest admiration, if not, at the very least, respect for English rule? Perhaps Charleston’s success in the South means it was generally more inclined to favor loyalty over separation. Perhaps the assertion made in the first essay written is misguided, and in fact Charleston was a loyalist hub, rather than a city split down the middle.

Word Count: 896

Bibliography

Barratt, Carrie Rebora. "American Portrait Miniatures of the Eighteenth Century | Essay | Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History | The Metropolitan Museum of Art." The Met's Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. October 2003. Accessed February 25, 2017. http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/mini/hd_mini.htm.

"Batiste." Dictionary.com. Accessed February 25, 2017. http://www.dictionary.com/browse/batiste.

Jaffee, David. "Art and Identity in the British North American Colonies, 1700–1776 | Essay | Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History | The Metropolitan Museum of Art." The Met's Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. October 2004. Accessed February 25, 2017. http://www.metmuseum.org/TOAH/hd/arid/hd_arid.htm.

"Jeremiah Theus | John Dart | The Met." The Metropolitan Museum of Art, i.e. The Met Museum. Accessed February 25, 2017. http://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/12792.

"Nankeen." Merriam-Webster. Accessed March 02, 2017. https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/nankeen.

South Carolina Weekly Gazette (Charleston), February 15, 1783, 1st ed., sec. 4. Accessed February 25, 2017.