Portrait of William Fleming

Date1810

Artist Cephas Thompson (1775-1856)

MediumOil on canvas

DimensionsOverall: 34 1/2 × 29 1/2in. (87.6 × 74.9cm)

Credit LineGift of William King Nonidez in memory of Margaret Eggleston Brown Nonidez and Martha Elizabeth Eggleston

Object number2025-74,A&B

DescriptionPortrait of an older man with white hair and light blue eyes wearing a black waistcoat and jacket with white stock.Label TextAfter graduating from Willaim & Mary in 1763, William Fleming studied law under Patrick Henry. He went on to serve in the House of Burgesses from 1772 to 1775 and was a delegate to the 1775 and 1776 colonial conventions. He served in the Virginia State House of Delegates from 1776 to 1778 and was a member of the continental congress from 1778 to 1779. In 1788 he became Judge of the General Court and in 1789 was elected to Virginia's first Supreme Court of Appeals.

A native of Massachusetts, Cephas Thompson spent a majority of his career as a portrait painter traveling the east coast for commissions. This portrait was painted while Thompson was traveling through Richmond in 1810. While a good number of portraits fromThompson's time in Norfolk, Virginia survive, less is known about his inland work and only a handful of Richmond commissions are recorded in his memorandum.
Provenance1824, bequeathed in the Last Will of William Fleming [1736-1824] (Chesterfield County, Virginia) to his granddaughter, Elizabeth Stanard Eggleston [1801- c. 1860] (Lawrence County, Alabama); About 1860, descended to her son William Fleming Eggleston [1840-1913] (Birmingham, Alabama); By 1913, descended to his son, Richard Henry Eggleston [1871-1936] (Lawrence County, Alabama); By 1936, descended to his daughter, Martha Elizabeth Eggleston [1909-2009] (Birmingham, Alabama); By 2009, given to her 1st cousin once removed, William King Nonidez (Mountain Brook, Alabama) who was CW’s source.