Jeremiah Theus
Encyclopedia
Jeremiah Theus (April 5, 1716 – May 17, 1774) was a Swiss
-born American
painter, primarily of portraits. He was active mainly around Charleston, South Carolina
, in which city he remained almost without competition for the bulk of his career.
, in the Swiss canton of Graubünden
, and was the eldest child of Simeon and Anna Walser Theüs. He was nineteen when he immigrated with his family to the Province of South Carolina
, whose General Assembly
had provided land grants and transport funds to encourage European Protestants to settle in the colony. Simeon Theüs was given 250 acres (1 km²) of land along the Edisto River
in what was then Orangeburgh Township, today Orangeburg County.
By 1740, the younger Theus was in Charleston, advertising in the South Carolina Gazette
:
He established his studio in a central location, the northeast corner of Broad and Meeting Streets. Just what degree of training he received is unknown; given that opportunities to study art were limited in Charleston at the time, however, it seems likely that he had received some training while he was still in Switzerland. Theus was twenty-eight in 1744, yet he already felt confident enough in his abilities to open an evening drawing school in his home.
Theus took on a variety of commissions during his early career, including painting and guilding the steeple
of St. Michael's Episcopal Church
in 1756, a job for which the congregation's commissioners paid him 77 pounds and 10 shillings for his labor and supplies. He also painted the weather vane
, and contributed 50 pounds towards the building fund for a new structure; he later owned a pew
in the church.
, who visited the city in 1765 and remained for about two years before returning to England. It seems likely that the latter painter influenced Theus to some extent; among the decorative touches he preferred for his work were dresses trimmed with ermine
, for his female sitters, and a marble tabletop, both of which began appearing in portraits by Theus at about the time Wollaston was in Charleston. The very end of his career also saw the rise to popularity of Philadelphia-born Henry Benbridge
, who had received training in Italy
and had migrated to South Carolina not long after his return home; he would soon replace Theus as the most popular painter in the city.
.jpg)
Theus died in Charleston in 1774; his death was noted in at least three local papers, including the South Carolina and American General Gazette and the South Carolina Gazette, both of which referred to him in their obituary
notices as both "ingenious" and "honest". His will
is dated September 15, 1770, with a codicil
added on March 14, 1774, and directs that his paintings, prints, paints, and books should be sold to provide support for his family. At the estate sale
, one Edward Oats purchased ""a great many PORTRAITS of Men, Women, and Children" with the intent of finding interested buyers for the set; whether or not he was able to sell the paintings off is unknown. The will reveals how successful Theus was in his chosen profession; besides holding nearly 3,000 pounds in cash, he owned a house in Charleston, 200 acre (0.809372 km²) of land in Orangeburgh Township, a town lot in Orangeburgh, and seven slaves. He had also, before his death, given 2,100 pounds to the children of his first marriage.
.jpg)
Theus typically confined himself to uncomplicated compositions, and the bulk of his portraits are bust-length works, approximately thirty by twenty-five inches at their largest; like many portraitists of the era, he also produced miniatures
. Three larger-scale works by him exist. The first, a portrait of Elizabeth, wife of Peter Manigault, dates to 1757, and was meant to be the pendant to a portrait by Allan Ramsay
. That Manigault was familiar with Theus' work may be seen by the letter he wrote to his mother, which accompanied the Ramsay portrait home in April 1751, in which he wrote that "I desire Mr Theus may see it, as soon as convenient after it arrives....I’ll be extremely obliged to you, if you’ll let me know his Judgement..." The source of Mrs. Manigault's pose is unknown, but is believed to have been taken from an English mezzotint
, as was common at the time. Only once more in his career did Theus work on such a scale, producing a pair of portraits, of Barnard Elliott, Jr. and his wife, around 1766. Elements of the portrait of Mrs. Elliott - including details of her costume, jewelry, and pose - have since been shown to have been taken from a number of contemporary English mezzotints. Theus frequently borrowed from English prints for his smaller works as well, and at least one historian has noted that many of his female sitters share identical poses and elements of costume, down to the folds and shadows in their dresses; each work is individualized with minor changes to various details.
Male sitters in Theus portraits were typically offered a handful of poses to choose from, including the then-popular hand-in-waistcoat
gesture; sometimes the artist would include a hat, tucked under the sitter's arm, to provide variety. In other portraits, Theus preferred the shorter bust-length portrait type; in either case, the format chosen allowed him to avoid having to paint the subject's hands.
Portraits of children allowed Theus greater variety in choosing the sitters' poses, and he exercised this freedom in a number of works. In some he chose to use a landscape
background, rather than the plain backdrop reserved for his adult subjects; others are allotted a variety of props, including a fishing
line and hook, an acorn
and a pet squirrel
, or a piece of fruit. About twenty portraits of children by the artist exist.
Besides creating original work, Theus sometimes served as a copyist for his clients, although few of his surviving works have been demonstrated to be copies. Among these are a copy of a portrait of Christiana Broughton by Henrietta Johnston
and a copy of a work variously attributed to William Keable and John Wollaston. Two nearly identical portraits of a man, possibly Isaac Smith, are also known to be by Theus; they appear to be copies of a lost original.
Although Theus made some attempt to individualize the faces of his sitters, they share so many characteristics as to be nearly indistinguishable. Hallmarks of his style include close-set eyes, long noses, full lips, and dimple
d chins. There is some evidence that he attempted to work from life when painting his subjects' faces, adding details of costume later in his studio. Costume remains the dominant focus of most of his portraits; he took greater care in depicting the colorful details and trimming of clothing than in showing his sitters' faces.
Like many of his contemporaries, Theus did not confine himself to portraiture when it came to his art. His advertisement in the Gazette indicates that he was willing to paint landscape
s and decorative work, including coats of arms
and family crests, in addition to human subjects. That he accepted the commission to paint and gild the steeple of St. Michael's Church suggests, furthermore, that he thought of himself at least in part as a journeyman.
Today paintings by Theus can be found in a number of American museum collections, including those of the Brooklyn Museum of Art, the Worcester Art Museum
, the Gibbes Museum of Art
, the Telfair Academy of Arts and Sciences, the Metropolitan Museum of Art
, and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
.
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
-born American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
painter, primarily of portraits. He was active mainly around Charleston, South Carolina
Charleston, South Carolina
Charleston is the second largest city in the U.S. state of South Carolina. It was made the county seat of Charleston County in 1901 when Charleston County was founded. The city's original name was Charles Towne in 1670, and it moved to its present location from a location on the west bank of the...
, in which city he remained almost without competition for the bulk of his career.
Early life and career
Theus was born in the city of ChurChur
Chur or Coire is the capital of the Swiss canton of Graubünden and lies in the northern part of the canton.-History:The name "chur" derives perhaps from the Celtic kora or koria, meaning "tribe", or from the Latin curia....
, in the Swiss canton of Graubünden
Graubünden
Graubünden or Grisons is the largest and easternmost canton of Switzerland. The canton shares borders with the cantons of Ticino, Uri, Glarus and St. Gallen and international borders with Italy, Austria and Liechtenstein...
, and was the eldest child of Simeon and Anna Walser Theüs. He was nineteen when he immigrated with his family to the Province of South Carolina
Province of South Carolina
The South Carolina Colony, or Province of South Carolina, was originally part of the Province of Carolina, which was chartered in 1663. The colony later became the U.S. state of South Carolina....
, whose General Assembly
South Carolina General Assembly
The South Carolina General Assembly, also called the South Carolina Legislature, is the state legislature of the U.S. state of South Carolina. The legislature is bicameral and consists of the lower South Carolina House of Representatives and the upper South Carolina Senate. Altogether, the General...
had provided land grants and transport funds to encourage European Protestants to settle in the colony. Simeon Theüs was given 250 acres (1 km²) of land along the Edisto River
Edisto River
The Edisto River is the longest completely undammed / unleveed blackwater river in North America, flowing 206 meandering miles from its sources in Saluda and Edgefield counties, to its Atlantic Ocean mouth at Edisto Beach, SC...
in what was then Orangeburgh Township, today Orangeburg County.
By 1740, the younger Theus was in Charleston, advertising in the South Carolina Gazette
South Carolina Gazette
The South Carolina Gazette was South Carolina's first successful newspaper. The paper began in 1732 under J. Whitemarsh in Charlestown . but within only 2 years he died of yellow fever. In 1734 another former printer with Benjamin Franklin, Lewis Timothy, revived the Gazette and ran it until...
:
Notice is hereby given, that Jeremiah Theus Limner is remov’d into the Market Square near Mr. John Laurans Sadler, where all Gentlemen and Ladies may have their Pictures drawn, likewise Landskips of all Sizes, Crests, and Coats of Arms for Coaches or Chaises. Likewise for the Conveniency of those who live in the Country, he is willing to wait on them at their respective Plantations.
He established his studio in a central location, the northeast corner of Broad and Meeting Streets. Just what degree of training he received is unknown; given that opportunities to study art were limited in Charleston at the time, however, it seems likely that he had received some training while he was still in Switzerland. Theus was twenty-eight in 1744, yet he already felt confident enough in his abilities to open an evening drawing school in his home.
Theus took on a variety of commissions during his early career, including painting and guilding the steeple
Steeple (architecture)
A steeple, in architecture, is a tall tower on a building, often topped by a spire. Steeples are very common on Christian churches and cathedrals and the use of the term generally connotes a religious structure...
of St. Michael's Episcopal Church
St. Michael's Episcopal Church (Charleston, South Carolina)
St. Michael's Episcopal Church is an historic Episcopal church and the oldest surviving religious structure in Charleston, South Carolina. It is located at Broad and Meeting streets on one of the Four Corners of the Law, and represents ecclesiastical law. It was built in the 1750s by order of the...
in 1756, a job for which the congregation's commissioners paid him 77 pounds and 10 shillings for his labor and supplies. He also painted the weather vane
Weather vane
A weather vane is an instrument for showing the direction of the wind. They are typically used as an architectural ornament to the highest point of a building....
, and contributed 50 pounds towards the building fund for a new structure; he later owned a pew
Pew
A pew is a long bench seat or enclosed box used for seating members of a congregation or choir in a church, or sometimes in a courtroom.-Overview:Churches were not commonly furnished with permanent pews before the Protestant Reformation...
in the church.
Later years
Theus was able to build a highly successful practice for himself in the three decades he spent in Charleston; this was due largely to the fact that for much of that time he was the only painter in town with any significant reputation. Perhaps his greatest competition came from English-born and -trained John WollastonJohn Wollaston (painter)
John Wollaston was an English painter of portraits who was active in the British colonies in North America for much of his career. He was one of a handful of painters to introduce the English Rococo style to the American colonies.-Biography:Little is known of Wollaston's early life. He is...
, who visited the city in 1765 and remained for about two years before returning to England. It seems likely that the latter painter influenced Theus to some extent; among the decorative touches he preferred for his work were dresses trimmed with ermine
Ermine
Ermine has several uses:* A common name for the stoat * The white fur and black tail end of this animal, which is historically worn by and associated with royalty and high officials...
, for his female sitters, and a marble tabletop, both of which began appearing in portraits by Theus at about the time Wollaston was in Charleston. The very end of his career also saw the rise to popularity of Philadelphia-born Henry Benbridge
Henry Benbridge
]]Henry Benbridge born October 1743 died February 1812), early American portrait painter, was born in Philadelphia, the only child of James and Mary Benbridge. When he was seven years old, his mother, who had been left a widow, was married to Thomas Gordon, a wealthy Scot. The boy's artistic...
, who had received training in Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
and had migrated to South Carolina not long after his return home; he would soon replace Theus as the most popular painter in the city.
Obituary
An obituary is a news article that reports the recent death of a person, typically along with an account of the person's life and information about the upcoming funeral. In large cities and larger newspapers, obituaries are written only for people considered significant...
notices as both "ingenious" and "honest". His will
Will (law)
A will or testament is a legal declaration by which a person, the testator, names one or more persons to manage his/her estate and provides for the transfer of his/her property at death...
is dated September 15, 1770, with a codicil
Codicil (will)
A codicil is a document that amends, rather than replaces, a previously executed will. Amendments made by a codicil may add or revoke small provisions , or may completely change the majority, or all, of the gifts under the will...
added on March 14, 1774, and directs that his paintings, prints, paints, and books should be sold to provide support for his family. At the estate sale
Estate sale
An estate sale or estate liquidation is a sale or auction to dispose of a substantial portion of the materials owned by a person who is recently deceased or who must dispose of his personal property to facilitate a move.-Reasons for an estate sale:...
, one Edward Oats purchased ""a great many PORTRAITS of Men, Women, and Children" with the intent of finding interested buyers for the set; whether or not he was able to sell the paintings off is unknown. The will reveals how successful Theus was in his chosen profession; besides holding nearly 3,000 pounds in cash, he owned a house in Charleston, 200 acre (0.809372 km²) of land in Orangeburgh Township, a town lot in Orangeburgh, and seven slaves. He had also, before his death, given 2,100 pounds to the children of his first marriage.
Personal life
Theus married twice during his time in Charleston. His first wife, who he wed on January 13, 1741, was Cathrina Elizabeth Shaumlöffel, daughter of one John Shaumlöffel of Orangeburgh Township; she was just 17 at the time of the wedding. The couple would go on to have five children together. Cathrina died in 1754 while giving birth to the sixth, who died at birth. In the following year, Theus married again, this time to a widow named Eva Rosanna Hilt. The wedding likely took place around September, because in that month the artist purchased a brick house at the corner of Mazyck (today Logan) and Broad Streets in Charleston. Theus and his second wife would have four children.Work
Miniature painting
Miniature painting may refer to:* Miniature * Persian miniature* Ottoman miniature* Portrait miniature* Painting miniature figures used in wargaming or role-playing games...
. Three larger-scale works by him exist. The first, a portrait of Elizabeth, wife of Peter Manigault, dates to 1757, and was meant to be the pendant to a portrait by Allan Ramsay
Allan Ramsay
Allan Ramsay may refer to:*Allan Ramsay , also known as Allan Ramsay the Elder, Scottish poet*Allan Ramsay , also known as Allan Ramsay the Younger, Scottish portrait painter...
. That Manigault was familiar with Theus' work may be seen by the letter he wrote to his mother, which accompanied the Ramsay portrait home in April 1751, in which he wrote that "I desire Mr Theus may see it, as soon as convenient after it arrives....I’ll be extremely obliged to you, if you’ll let me know his Judgement..." The source of Mrs. Manigault's pose is unknown, but is believed to have been taken from an English mezzotint
Mezzotint
Mezzotint is a printmaking process of the intaglio family, technically a drypoint method. It was the first tonal method to be used, enabling half-tones to be produced without using line- or dot-based techniques like hatching, cross-hatching or stipple...
, as was common at the time. Only once more in his career did Theus work on such a scale, producing a pair of portraits, of Barnard Elliott, Jr. and his wife, around 1766. Elements of the portrait of Mrs. Elliott - including details of her costume, jewelry, and pose - have since been shown to have been taken from a number of contemporary English mezzotints. Theus frequently borrowed from English prints for his smaller works as well, and at least one historian has noted that many of his female sitters share identical poses and elements of costume, down to the folds and shadows in their dresses; each work is individualized with minor changes to various details.
Male sitters in Theus portraits were typically offered a handful of poses to choose from, including the then-popular hand-in-waistcoat
Waistcoat
A waistcoat or vest is a sleeveless upper-body garment worn over a dress shirt and necktie and below a coat as a part of most men's formal wear, and as the third piece of the three-piece male business suit.-Characteristics and use:...
gesture; sometimes the artist would include a hat, tucked under the sitter's arm, to provide variety. In other portraits, Theus preferred the shorter bust-length portrait type; in either case, the format chosen allowed him to avoid having to paint the subject's hands.
Portraits of children allowed Theus greater variety in choosing the sitters' poses, and he exercised this freedom in a number of works. In some he chose to use a landscape
Landscape
Landscape comprises the visible features of an area of land, including the physical elements of landforms such as mountains, hills, water bodies such as rivers, lakes, ponds and the sea, living elements of land cover including indigenous vegetation, human elements including different forms of...
background, rather than the plain backdrop reserved for his adult subjects; others are allotted a variety of props, including a fishing
Fishing
Fishing is the activity of trying to catch wild fish. Fish are normally caught in the wild. Techniques for catching fish include hand gathering, spearing, netting, angling and trapping....
line and hook, an acorn
Acorn
The acorn, or oak nut, is the nut of the oaks and their close relatives . It usually contains a single seed , enclosed in a tough, leathery shell, and borne in a cup-shaped cupule. Acorns vary from 1–6 cm long and 0.8–4 cm broad...
and a pet squirrel
Squirrel
Squirrels belong to a large family of small or medium-sized rodents called the Sciuridae. The family includes tree squirrels, ground squirrels, chipmunks, marmots , flying squirrels, and prairie dogs. Squirrels are indigenous to the Americas, Eurasia, and Africa and have been introduced to Australia...
, or a piece of fruit. About twenty portraits of children by the artist exist.
Besides creating original work, Theus sometimes served as a copyist for his clients, although few of his surviving works have been demonstrated to be copies. Among these are a copy of a portrait of Christiana Broughton by Henrietta Johnston
Henrietta Johnston
Henrietta de Beaulieu Dering Johnston was a pastelist of uncertain origin active in the English colonies in North America from approximately 1708 until her death...
and a copy of a work variously attributed to William Keable and John Wollaston. Two nearly identical portraits of a man, possibly Isaac Smith, are also known to be by Theus; they appear to be copies of a lost original.
Although Theus made some attempt to individualize the faces of his sitters, they share so many characteristics as to be nearly indistinguishable. Hallmarks of his style include close-set eyes, long noses, full lips, and dimple
Dimple
A dimple is a small natural indentation in the flesh on a part of the human body, most notably in the cheek or on the chin.-More about dimples:...
d chins. There is some evidence that he attempted to work from life when painting his subjects' faces, adding details of costume later in his studio. Costume remains the dominant focus of most of his portraits; he took greater care in depicting the colorful details and trimming of clothing than in showing his sitters' faces.
Like many of his contemporaries, Theus did not confine himself to portraiture when it came to his art. His advertisement in the Gazette indicates that he was willing to paint landscape
Landscape
Landscape comprises the visible features of an area of land, including the physical elements of landforms such as mountains, hills, water bodies such as rivers, lakes, ponds and the sea, living elements of land cover including indigenous vegetation, human elements including different forms of...
s and decorative work, including coats of arms
Coat of arms
A coat of arms is a unique heraldic design on a shield or escutcheon or on a surcoat or tabard used to cover and protect armour and to identify the wearer. Thus the term is often stated as "coat-armour", because it was anciently displayed on the front of a coat of cloth...
and family crests, in addition to human subjects. That he accepted the commission to paint and gild the steeple of St. Michael's Church suggests, furthermore, that he thought of himself at least in part as a journeyman.
Today paintings by Theus can be found in a number of American museum collections, including those of the Brooklyn Museum of Art, the Worcester Art Museum
Worcester Art Museum
The Worcester Art Museum, also known by its acronym WAM, houses over 35,000 works of art dating from antiquity to the present day, representing cultures from all over the world. The WAM opened in 1898 in Worcester, Massachusetts, and is the second largest art museum in New England...
, the Gibbes Museum of Art
Gibbes Museum of Art
The Gibbes Museum of Art is an art museum in Charleston, South Carolina. Established as the Carolina Art Association in 1858, the museum moved into a new Beaux Arts building at 135 Meeting Street in 1905...
, the Telfair Academy of Arts and Sciences, the Metropolitan Museum of Art
Metropolitan Museum of Art
The Metropolitan Museum of Art is a renowned art museum in New York City. Its permanent collection contains more than two million works, divided into nineteen curatorial departments. The main building, located on the eastern edge of Central Park along Manhattan's Museum Mile, is one of the...
, and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
The Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, Massachusetts, is one of the largest museums in the United States, attracting over one million visitors a year. It contains over 450,000 works of art, making it one of the most comprehensive collections in the Americas...
.