Bridport, Hugh - portrait of a man

Tentatively, this unsigned miniature has been attributed to Hugh Bridport, although it seems not to have the blue-green tinge of some examples by him.

Hugh Bridport (1794->1870) was born in London and moved to America in 1816. Immigration records suggest he made several trips back to England and he perhaps married while he was there, as the 1841 census seems to show him as single and his wife was also born in England. He was best known as a miniature painter, but worked in other branches of the graphic arts, including engraving and lithography. He was also an architect.

He moved around while in the United States, as the 1860 census records three daughters, each born in a different state; Julia (in 1860 aged 16) in Illinois, Rachel (14) in Pennsylvania, and Charlotte (11) in St Louis.

The literature only records him to 1869, but he was still alive in the 1870 census living in Philadelphia with his wife Rachel, daughter Julia and two servants. There he described himself as a retired merchant, with he and Julia disclosing combined assets of over $80,000.

The reasons for attributing the miniature to him are mainly the pose, see fig 2o in Johnson where the sitter also seems to be sitting on the same chair. His work was usually, but not always, signed on the edge, but that is not the case here. As shown here, Christine Archibald recently had a signed one by him for sale with a similar pose. For her current offerings see Christine Archibald Portrait Miniatures

The sitter in the miniature in this collection is unknown. 1024