Lot Essay
Cynthia Pope Yeatman (?-1855) was the daughter of Judge Nathaniel Pope of Illinois, and the wife of James Ervin Yeatman of St. Louis, Missouri. Cynthia and James Yeatman had only one child, Nathaniel (1853-1906), pictured with his mother in this portrait miniature. Nathaniel Yeatman subsequently moved from Missouri to Tennessee, where he married Margaret Webster in 1877.
Born in New York City, John Wood Dodge (1807-1893), was principally a portrait miniature painter whose working career spanned the early years of the new Republic until well past the ascendence of the photograph. Dodge first began drawing at the national Academy of Design in 1826-27, where he subsequently exhibited in 1830. He was elected an associate member of that institution in 1832. In addition, Dodge exhibited consistently there from 1830-1838, when he left New York. His subsequent travels took him to Ohio, Missouri, Kentucky, Alabama and Tennessee, where he largely remained until the outbreak of the Civil War.
Dodge's clientele included some of the most important national and local figures of his era. In addition to his famous portrait miniature of Andrew Jackson, Dodge also painted Henry Clay, and recreated portraits of George Washington and Abraham Lincoln from previous likenesses and death masks. Locally, Dodge also painted individuals of important stature including Varina Howell (subsequently Mrs. Jefferson Davis), as well as, in Nashville, members of the Whitman, Kirkman, and Yeatman families. Dodge is known to have spent the early years of the 1850's in St. Louis, Missouri, before returning to Huntsville, Alabama, in 1854. It is presumably through the Nashville Yeatmans that Dodge came to paint this likeness of Cynthia Yeatman and her son Nathaniel. For further information, see James C. Kelley, "John Wood Dodge: Miniature Painter," American Art Review, August-September 1994, pp. 98-103.
Born in New York City, John Wood Dodge (1807-1893), was principally a portrait miniature painter whose working career spanned the early years of the new Republic until well past the ascendence of the photograph. Dodge first began drawing at the national Academy of Design in 1826-27, where he subsequently exhibited in 1830. He was elected an associate member of that institution in 1832. In addition, Dodge exhibited consistently there from 1830-1838, when he left New York. His subsequent travels took him to Ohio, Missouri, Kentucky, Alabama and Tennessee, where he largely remained until the outbreak of the Civil War.
Dodge's clientele included some of the most important national and local figures of his era. In addition to his famous portrait miniature of Andrew Jackson, Dodge also painted Henry Clay, and recreated portraits of George Washington and Abraham Lincoln from previous likenesses and death masks. Locally, Dodge also painted individuals of important stature including Varina Howell (subsequently Mrs. Jefferson Davis), as well as, in Nashville, members of the Whitman, Kirkman, and Yeatman families. Dodge is known to have spent the early years of the 1850's in St. Louis, Missouri, before returning to Huntsville, Alabama, in 1854. It is presumably through the Nashville Yeatmans that Dodge came to paint this likeness of Cynthia Yeatman and her son Nathaniel. For further information, see James C. Kelley, "John Wood Dodge: Miniature Painter," American Art Review, August-September 1994, pp. 98-103.