Painting

Title:

Portrait of Brigadier General John Sullivan

Object Name:

Painting

Creator:

Unknown

Date:

1870-1910

Material:

Oil on canvas

Dimensions:

H-4.75 L-21 Dia-7 inches
As seen in frame:
7.000" x 5.750"

Description:

Oil painting is waist length portrait of Major-General John Sullivan. He faces left, wears a dark blue coat with gold collar, labels and epaulets. Brass buttons. Brown hair in queue tied at the end. Mottled gray background. In gilded simple moulding frame.

Provenance:

This is a copy of a portrait painted by Ulysses Dow Tenney, from a 1790 pencil sketch from John Trumbull. The original currently hangs in the Executive Council Chamber of the New Hampshire State House in Concord.

John Sullivan (1740-1795) was a major influence in both New Hampshire and in the fight for independence from Britain. He was born in Somersworth, New Hampshire and lived in Portsmouth and Durham. He was friends with Royal Governor Wentworth, but when tensions between Britain and America began to escalate, Sullivan cut ties with Wentworth and became an ardent revolutionary.

Sullivan took part in the second raid of Fort William and Mary where he and his militia raided the fort for cannons, muskets, and munitions. He was then selected as a delegate to the First and Second Continental Congress. Sullivan also took part, alongside Washington, in the Siege of Boston and at the Battle for Long Island. He also commanded the Sullivan Expedition of 1779, a scorched earth campaign against the Iroquois towns that had taken up arms against the American revolutionaries.

After the war, he led a busy political life. He served as State Attorney General and also led the drive for New Hampshire to ratify the United States Constitution. He was also served as governor of New Hampshire for three years before becoming the first federal judge for the United States District Court for New Hampshire, which he held until he died at age 54 in 1795. Sullivan was also a founding member of the Society of the Cincinnati in New Hampshire, and its first president.

Subjects:

Painting, Portraits

People:

Sullivan, John, Tenney, Ulysses Dow

Place of Origin:

New Hampshire

Collection Name:

Society of the Cincinnati in the State of New Hampshire

Item Number:

1990.135

Accession Number:

1990.135

Type of Material:

Objects

Copyright Statement:

For information regarding copyright, permissions, and reproductions contact the American Independence Museum

Credit Line:

A gift of Paul Deblois Laighton, 1927

Participating Organization:

American Independence Museum