Below you'll find a list of all posts that have been categorized as “Stories Behind the Portraits”
In 1845, Dr. Anthony Wayne Rollins established a scholarship for young people from Boone County, Missouri, both men and women. What would cause a man of the 19th century to include such a stipulation in his will? How could his perception of women have been so far ahead of his time? Could his wife, Sallie Rodes Rollins, be responsible? Sarah Harris Rodes, who …
Ruth McCarty was born on April 7, 1844, in Saline County,Missouri. At the age of 24, 0n 28 May 1868, she married Captain Ephraim Allison, 32, a Confederate veteran of the Civil War. They honeymooned at the J. Huston Tavern in Arrow Rock and settled in Clinton, Missouri. Their first son, Charles, was born about 1869 and then a second, …
Recto – George Caleb Bingham When George Caleb Bingham painted her portrait in 1835, Dinah Allen was 32 and pregnant with her eighth child. Her ancestors included Captain William Clark of the Lewis & Clark Expedition and James Clark, a governor of Kentucky (1836 – 1839). When her husband Shubael died in 1841, Dinah remained at their plantation, Allen’s Landing, …
When the current owner purchased this new George Caleb Bingham portrait at an art auction, the artist was listed as unknown. But the name of the subject was taped to the back of the frame: Sarah Ann Elliott (Sallie), Mrs. Henry Neill and that clue, along with the owner’s extensive genealogical research were enough to discover the truth about the painting. Both maiden …
James Sidney Rollins was George Caleb Bingham‘s “warmest personal friend.” This re-discovered Bingham portrait descended in the Rollins family to a great-granddaughter who had always been told it was the work of an unknown artist. She wanted the people of Missouri to have it. When the painting arrived in the Midwest, I immediately recognized the artist as George Caleb Bingham. Other experts and …
Bingham scholar E. Maurice Bloch listed the portraits of Mrs. Ephraim Allison (Ruth McCarty), 1872 (A383) and Tom Edward Allison, 1872, (A384) in his definitive work, George Caleb Bingham Paintings: A Catalogue Raisonne, (University of Missouri Press, 1986). As I worked with lists and images of Bingham portraits, I wondered, wouldn’t Bingham have painted Mr. Ephraim Allison as well? The thought passed, barely noticed. Years later, …
