The Seabrook Family Portraits by the Payne Limner, Virginia, circa 1784
PORTRAITS OF THE SEABROOK FAMILY OF HENRICO AND HANOVER COUNTIES, VIRGINIA
ATTRIBUTED TO THE PAYNE LIMNER
Nicolas Brown Seabrook (1739-1790)
Mary Duchess Seabrook (1742-1808)
John Seabrook (1768-1844)
Polly Seabrook (1777-1796)
Betsy Seabrook (1780-1783)
Oil on canvas, reproduction frames
Each approximately 36” x 42”
Circa 1784
This group of paintings represents an important new discovery in the field of American painting, particularly in the realm of Southern portraiture. The Seabrook portraits are attributed to the Payne Limner and are a significant addition to the fourteen other paintings attributed to this artist. All of his known work was produced in Henrico and Goochland Counties (in and around the Richmond area). As an artist, he provides rare, pictorial records documenting the citizens of the Richmond area in the years right after the Revolutionary War.
Nicholas Brown Seabrook was a sea captain, Revolutionary War privateer, merchant, Richmond investor, and plantation owner. Born on his father's estate on New Jersey's Raritan Bay, he and wife, Mary, began their lives in and around New York. By late 1760s, circumstance and opportunity brought them to Virginia, first to Portsmouth, then Richmond and, ultimately, to Henrico and Hanover Counties.
Seabrook commissioned family portraits sometime around 1783. This group comprises his own portrait, that of his wife, and three of their children. The artist was likely a local painter whose identity is yet unknown, but is referred to as The Payne Limner, named after a large group of portraits of the family of Archer Payne. Payne’s Goochland County plantation was less than twenty-five miles from the Seabrook’s.
Descent:
Nicholas Brown Seabrook – b. 1739, Middletown, NJ
John Seabrook – b. 1768
Nicholas B. Seabrook - b. 1799, Hanover Co., VA
Mary Gordon Seabrook - b. 1845 Richmond, VA
Douglas Seabrook Studdiford – b. Lambertville, NJ 7/29/1880
Ellen Seabrook Studdiford - d. 2004, Montclair, NJ
ATTRIBUTED TO THE PAYNE LIMNER
Nicolas Brown Seabrook (1739-1790)
Mary Duchess Seabrook (1742-1808)
John Seabrook (1768-1844)
Polly Seabrook (1777-1796)
Betsy Seabrook (1780-1783)
Oil on canvas, reproduction frames
Each approximately 36” x 42”
Circa 1784
This group of paintings represents an important new discovery in the field of American painting, particularly in the realm of Southern portraiture. The Seabrook portraits are attributed to the Payne Limner and are a significant addition to the fourteen other paintings attributed to this artist. All of his known work was produced in Henrico and Goochland Counties (in and around the Richmond area). As an artist, he provides rare, pictorial records documenting the citizens of the Richmond area in the years right after the Revolutionary War.
Nicholas Brown Seabrook was a sea captain, Revolutionary War privateer, merchant, Richmond investor, and plantation owner. Born on his father's estate on New Jersey's Raritan Bay, he and wife, Mary, began their lives in and around New York. By late 1760s, circumstance and opportunity brought them to Virginia, first to Portsmouth, then Richmond and, ultimately, to Henrico and Hanover Counties.
Seabrook commissioned family portraits sometime around 1783. This group comprises his own portrait, that of his wife, and three of their children. The artist was likely a local painter whose identity is yet unknown, but is referred to as The Payne Limner, named after a large group of portraits of the family of Archer Payne. Payne’s Goochland County plantation was less than twenty-five miles from the Seabrook’s.
Descent:
Nicholas Brown Seabrook – b. 1739, Middletown, NJ
John Seabrook – b. 1768
Nicholas B. Seabrook - b. 1799, Hanover Co., VA
Mary Gordon Seabrook - b. 1845 Richmond, VA
Douglas Seabrook Studdiford – b. Lambertville, NJ 7/29/1880
Ellen Seabrook Studdiford - d. 2004, Montclair, NJ