Title: Benning Wentworth
Object Name: Painting
Creator: Blackburn, Joseph
Date: 1760
Material: Textile
Dimensions: H-93.5 W-58 inches
Description: Portrait of Benning Wentworth (1696-1770), by Joseph Blackburn (fl. 1753-1763), 1760. Oil on canvas. Full length, standing portrait of a man; turned slightly left with eyes toward viewer. Sitter has white wig, dark blue eyes, and ruddy complexion. He wears a full-skirted blue coat, blue waistcoat trimmed with gold and gold braid, blue knee breeches, white stockings, white cravat, white ruffle at cuff, and black shoes with gold buckles. Right hand holds malacca cane and left is resting on breeches; standing with feet slightly apart, upon a tiled floor of gray and buff stone. Red curtain with tassel, in right background, pulled back revealing a column and landscape (seascape) at left. Signed, lower left of center, on line between gray and buff stone, in black paint with block lettering: "I - Blackburn Pinxit 1760." Gilded gesso over wood frame with convex cove and low-relief foliate scroll designs; 18th-century frame.
Provenance: This portrait originally hung in Benning Wentworth's home at Little Harbor, just south of Portsmouth. During the 19th century, after Benning's heirs had left NH for England, a family antiquarian, Ebenezer Wentworth, acquired this portrait and the portrait of John Wentworth (1969.030.01). The portraits were then passed down from Ebenezer Wentworth to the eldest son in each generation, until inherited by the donors, who gave the paintings to the NHHS. Ebenezer's will in 1859 also stated that the portraits were not to leave the state of NH.
Benning Wentworth (1696-1770) to brother of Benning, Daniel (b. 01/05/1715), then his son George (b. 01/11/1740), then his son Ebenezer, (b. 09/4/1799), then Mark Hunking (b. 03/12/1813), then his son Charles (b. 07/20/1845), then his son Strafford (b. 08/05/1872). The donors are the three daughters of Strafford and Margaret Wentworth.
Subjects:
Wentworth, Benning,
Governors,
Portrait paintings,
Portraits,
Rococo
People:
Wentworth, Benning (1696-1770),
Blackburn, Joseph
Place of Origin: Portsmouth, NH
Collection Name: Inventory
Item Number: 1969.030.02
Accession Number: 1969.030
Type of Material: Objects
Copyright Statement: For information regarding copyright, permissions, and reproductions contact the New Hampshire Historical Society
Credit Line: Given in Memory of Strafford and Margaret Wentworth by their daughters, Anne Wentworth Morss, Margaret Wentworth Whiting, and Constance Wentworth Dodge
Participating Organization: New Hampshire Historical Society