Thomas Sully
Encyclopedia
Thomas Sully was an American (English
-born) painter, mostly of portraits.
, England
, to the actors Matthew and Sarah Sully. In March 1792 the Sullys and their nine children immigrated to Richmond, Virginia
, where Thomas’s uncle managed a theater. The boy attended school in New York City
until 1794, when his mother died and he returned to Richmond. By July of that year the family was in Charleston, South Carolina
. After a brief apprenticeship to an insurance broker who recognized his artistic talent, at age 12 or thereabouts Sully began painting and studied with his brother-in-law Jean Belzons (active 1794–1812), a French miniaturist, until they had a falling-out in 1799. He then returned to Richmond to learn "miniature & Device painting" from his elder brother Lawrence Sully (1769–1804). After Lawrence Sully's death, Thomas Sully married his sister-in-law, Lawrence's widow, Sarah Annis Sully and not only took on the raising of Lawrence's children but fathered an additional nine children with Sarah himself. Among the children were Alfred Sully
, Mary Chester Sully (who married Sully's protégé, the painter John Neagle
), Jane Cooper Sully Darley, Blanche, Rosalie Sully, and Thomas Wilcocks Sully. Sully was also one of the founding members of The Musical Fund Society
where he painted the portraits of many of the musicians and composers.
Sully became a professional painter at age 18 in 1801. He studied portrait painting under Gilbert Stuart
in Boston
for three weeks. After some time in Virginia
with this brother, Sully moved to New York
, after which he moved to Philadelphia
in 1806, where he resided for the remainder of his life. In 1809 he traveled to London
for nine months of study under Benjamin West
.
Sully's 1824 portraits of John Quincy Adams
, who became President within the year, and then the Marquis de Lafayette
appear to have brought him to the forefront of his day. (His Adams portrait may be seen in the National Gallery of Art
, Washington.) Many famous Americans of the day had their portraits painted by him. In 1837–1838 he was in London to paint Queen Victoria
at the request of Philadelphia's St. George's Society. His daughter Blanche assisted him as the Queen's "stand-in", modeling the Queen's costume when she was not available. One of Sully's portraits of Thomas Jefferson
is owned by the Jefferson Literary and Debating Society
at the University of Virginia
and hangs in that school's Rotunda. Another Jefferson portrait, this one head-to-toe, hangs at West Point
, as is his portrait of Alexander Macomb (American general).
Sully's own index indicates that he produced 2631 paintings from 1801, most of which are currently in the United States. His style resembles that of Thomas Lawrence
. Though best known as a portrait painter, Sully also made historical pieces and landscapes. An example of the former is the 1819 Passage of the Delaware, now in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
.
Sully died in Philadelphia on November 5, 1872, where he had spent the majority of his long and successful career. He is buried in the Laurel Hill Cemetery
. His book Hints to young painters was published after his death.
Several of Sully's portraits hang in the chambers of the Dialectic and Philanthropic Societies of the University of North Carolina
. Portraits, including that of President James K. Polk
, were commissioned of notable alumni from the Societies.
His son, Alfred Sully
, was a brigadier general in the Union Army during the American Civil War
. Through Alfred, he is the great-grandfather of the noted Yankton Sioux ethnologist and writer Ella Deloria and the great-great-grandfather of Standing Rock Sioux scholar and writer Vine Deloria, Jr.
, author of Custer Died For Your Sins
(1969), an American Indian civil-rights manifesto.
Sully was a great-uncle of the New Orleans-based architect, also named Thomas Sully
(1855–1939).
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
-born) painter, mostly of portraits.
Early life
Sully was born in Horncastle, LincolnshireLincolnshire
Lincolnshire is a county in the east of England. It borders Norfolk to the south east, Cambridgeshire to the south, Rutland to the south west, Leicestershire and Nottinghamshire to the west, South Yorkshire to the north west, and the East Riding of Yorkshire to the north. It also borders...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, to the actors Matthew and Sarah Sully. In March 1792 the Sullys and their nine children immigrated to Richmond, Virginia
Richmond, Virginia
Richmond is the capital of the Commonwealth of Virginia, in the United States. It is an independent city and not part of any county. Richmond is the center of the Richmond Metropolitan Statistical Area and the Greater Richmond area...
, where Thomas’s uncle managed a theater. The boy attended school in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
until 1794, when his mother died and he returned to Richmond. By July of that year the family was in 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...
. After a brief apprenticeship to an insurance broker who recognized his artistic talent, at age 12 or thereabouts Sully began painting and studied with his brother-in-law Jean Belzons (active 1794–1812), a French miniaturist, until they had a falling-out in 1799. He then returned to Richmond to learn "miniature & Device painting" from his elder brother Lawrence Sully (1769–1804). After Lawrence Sully's death, Thomas Sully married his sister-in-law, Lawrence's widow, Sarah Annis Sully and not only took on the raising of Lawrence's children but fathered an additional nine children with Sarah himself. Among the children were Alfred Sully
Alfred Sully
Alfred Sully , was a military officer during the American Civil War and during the Indian Wars on the frontier. He was also a noted painter.-Biography:...
, Mary Chester Sully (who married Sully's protégé, the painter John Neagle
John Neagle
John Neagle was a fashionable American painter, primarily of portraits, during the first half of the 19th century in Philadelphia.-Biography:Neagle was born in Boston, Massachusetts...
), Jane Cooper Sully Darley, Blanche, Rosalie Sully, and Thomas Wilcocks Sully. Sully was also one of the founding members of The Musical Fund Society
The Musical Fund Society
The Musical Fund Society is one of the oldest musical societies in the United States founded in February 1820 by Benjamin Carr, Raynor Taylor, George Schetky and Benjamin Cross, and the painter Thomas Sully...
where he painted the portraits of many of the musicians and composers.
Painting
Gilbert Stuart
Gilbert Charles Stuart was an American painter from Rhode Island.Gilbert Stuart is widely considered to be one of America's foremost portraitists...
in Boston
Boston
Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...
for three weeks. After some time in Virginia
Virginia
The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...
with this brother, Sully moved to New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
, after which he moved to Philadelphia
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Philadelphia is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Philadelphia County, with which it is coterminous. The city is located in the Northeastern United States along the Delaware and Schuylkill rivers. It is the fifth-most-populous city in the United States,...
in 1806, where he resided for the remainder of his life. In 1809 he traveled to London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
for nine months of study under Benjamin West
Benjamin West
Benjamin West, RA was an Anglo-American painter of historical scenes around and after the time of the American War of Independence...
.
Sully's 1824 portraits of John Quincy Adams
John Quincy Adams
John Quincy Adams was the sixth President of the United States . He served as an American diplomat, Senator, and Congressional representative. He was a member of the Federalist, Democratic-Republican, National Republican, and later Anti-Masonic and Whig parties. Adams was the son of former...
, who became President within the year, and then the Marquis de Lafayette
Gilbert du Motier, marquis de La Fayette
Marie-Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de La Fayette , often known as simply Lafayette, was a French aristocrat and military officer born in Chavaniac, in the province of Auvergne in south central France...
appear to have brought him to the forefront of his day. (His Adams portrait may be seen in the National Gallery of Art
National Gallery of Art
The National Gallery of Art and its Sculpture Garden is a national art museum, located on the National Mall between 3rd and 9th Streets at Constitution Avenue NW, in Washington, DC...
, Washington.) Many famous Americans of the day had their portraits painted by him. In 1837–1838 he was in London to paint Queen Victoria
Victoria of the United Kingdom
Victoria was the monarch of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until her death. From 1 May 1876, she used the additional title of Empress of India....
at the request of Philadelphia's St. George's Society. His daughter Blanche assisted him as the Queen's "stand-in", modeling the Queen's costume when she was not available. One of Sully's portraits of Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson was the principal author of the United States Declaration of Independence and the Statute of Virginia for Religious Freedom , the third President of the United States and founder of the University of Virginia...
is owned by the Jefferson Literary and Debating Society
Jefferson Literary and Debating Society
The Jefferson Literary and Debating Society is a debating and literary society at the University of Virginia. Founded in 1825, it is the oldest organization at The University and one of the oldest continuously existing debating societies in North America....
at the University of Virginia
University of Virginia
The University of Virginia is a public research university located in Charlottesville, Virginia, United States, founded by Thomas Jefferson...
and hangs in that school's Rotunda. Another Jefferson portrait, this one head-to-toe, hangs at West Point
United States Military Academy
The United States Military Academy at West Point is a four-year coeducational federal service academy located at West Point, New York. The academy sits on scenic high ground overlooking the Hudson River, north of New York City...
, as is his portrait of Alexander Macomb (American general).
Sully's own index indicates that he produced 2631 paintings from 1801, most of which are currently in the United States. His style resembles that of Thomas Lawrence
Thomas Lawrence (painter)
Sir Thomas Lawrence RA FRS was a leading English portrait painter and president of the Royal Academy.Lawrence was a child prodigy. He was born in Bristol and began drawing in Devizes, where his father was an innkeeper. At the age of ten, having moved to Bath, he was supporting his family with his...
. Though best known as a portrait painter, Sully also made historical pieces and landscapes. An example of the former is the 1819 Passage of the Delaware, now in 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...
.
Death and legacy
Laurel Hill Cemetery
Laurel Hill Cemetery, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, is the second major garden or rural cemetery in the United States. It was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1998, one of only a few cemeteries to receive the distinction....
. His book Hints to young painters was published after his death.
Several of Sully's portraits hang in the chambers of the Dialectic and Philanthropic Societies of the University of North Carolina
University of North Carolina
Chartered in 1789, the University of North Carolina was one of the first public universities in the United States and the only one to graduate students in the eighteenth century...
. Portraits, including that of President James K. Polk
James K. Polk
James Knox Polk was the 11th President of the United States . Polk was born in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina. He later lived in and represented Tennessee. A Democrat, Polk served as the 17th Speaker of the House of Representatives and the 12th Governor of Tennessee...
, were commissioned of notable alumni from the Societies.
His son, Alfred Sully
Alfred Sully
Alfred Sully , was a military officer during the American Civil War and during the Indian Wars on the frontier. He was also a noted painter.-Biography:...
, was a brigadier general in the Union Army during the American Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
. Through Alfred, he is the great-grandfather of the noted Yankton Sioux ethnologist and writer Ella Deloria and the great-great-grandfather of Standing Rock Sioux scholar and writer Vine Deloria, Jr.
Vine Deloria, Jr.
Vine Deloria, Jr. was an American Indian author, theologian, historian, and activist. He was widely known for his book Custer Died for Your Sins: An Indian Manifesto , which helped generate national attention to Native American issues in the same year as the Alcatraz-Red Power Movement...
, author of Custer Died For Your Sins
Custer Died For Your Sins: An Indian Manifesto
Custer Died for Your Sins: An Indian Manifesto, is a 1969, non-fiction book by the lawyer, professor and writer Vine Deloria, Jr. The book was noteworthy for its relevance to the Alcatraz-Red Power Movement and other activist organizations, such as the American Indian Movement, which was beginning...
(1969), an American Indian civil-rights manifesto.
Sully was a great-uncle of the New Orleans-based architect, also named Thomas Sully
Thomas Sully (architect)
Thomas Sully was a largely self-trained architect based in New Orleans, Louisiana. He designed many large residences on Upper St. Charles Avenue, such as the Picard House, and public buildings in New Orleans and in other cities as well.Sully was born in Mississippi City, Mississippi, to George...
(1855–1939).
External links
- The Winterthur Library Overview of the archival collection on Thomas Sully.
- "Washington's Crossing as Docudrama", Wall Street Journal, Retrieved 03/19/2001