Images(2)

Miniature Portrait of Robert Dinwiddie (1693-1770)

DateProbably 1749-1751

OriginGreat Britain

MediumWatercolor on ivory

DimensionsOther (Sight): 1 3/4 x 1 1/2in. (4.4 x 3.8cm)
Framed (Including point of pin): 2 1/16 x 2 3/16in.

Credit LineGift of Sir Campbell Stuart

Object number1938-177

DescriptionA bust-length likeness of a jowly man in a shoulder-length white wig, his body turned in three-quarter view towards the onlooker's right, his eyes on the viewer.Label TextPhysiognomic similarities between this subject and that of a full-scale oil of Robert Dinwiddie owned by the National Portrait Gallery, London, supprt the identity of the sitter, even though the two images appear to have come from different hands. Dinwiddie served as Lieutenant Governor of the colony of Virginia during 1751-1758.

Little is known of the miniaturist who typically signed his likenesses "C. D." His surname surfaced in the accounts of Benjamin Franklin who, while in England, commissioned a miniature of himself to send back to family in Philadelphia, noting "Oct. 31, 1757; paid Mr. Dixon for B. F.'s picture £6.6.0." Franklin's miniature is now in the collections of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

In view of historians' incomplete knowledge of Dixon's name, it is ironic that a record of his appearance survives. The Victoria and Albert Museum, London, has a fine miniature self-portrait by him inscribed "se ipse pinx" below the usual initials.

The artist's relatively unsophisticated techniques have prompted researchers to speculate that he worked outside London.Inscription(s)The script initials "C.D." appear at far right, about opposite the sitter's shoulder line.ProvenancePortrait descended in the Dinwiddie family to Sir Campbell Stuart who donated it to Colonial Williamsburg.