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Accessibility:
Call No:
  • 1907.6.2
Title:
  • Obadiah Brown
Author/Creator:
Place of Production/Origin:
Description:
  • Half length portrait of man in plain Quaker dress, brown coat, light brown vest, white stock and no hat. He is balding with longish gray hair on sides and has a stout face and form.
Date(s):
  • ca. 1898;
Collection Type:
Object Type:
Material(s):
  • oil
  • canvas
Medium(s):
  • Painting
Research Notes:
  • Obadiah Brown was born 15 July 1771, of the first marriage of Moses Brown to his cousin Anna Brown (daughter of Obadiah Brown), and was Moses' only son. He married Dorcas Hadwen of Newport in 1798; they had no children. Obadiah Brown was in a cotton textile manufacturing business with his brother-in-law, William Almy. Like his father, Moses Brown, he was a member of the Society of Friends, and in the same tradition directed his weath into philantrophy, notably in support of the Moses Brown School. He died 15 October 1822. This portrait, showing Obadiah Brown in middle age and dressed in typical Quaker style (though without a hat), was probably painted from a contemporary engraving. ~Frank Goodyear, 1974
Provenance:
Bibliographic References:
  • Goodyear Jr., Frank H. American Paintings in the Rhode Island Historical Society. Providence, RI: the Rhode Island Historical Society, 1974. Image 127, page 97.
Image ID Numbers:
  • https://RIHS.MINISISINC.COM/RIHS_IMAGE/RHiX173376w.jpg
Permanent Record Link:

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