Portrait of John Vaughan

Thomas Sully (1793-1872) painted six portraits of John Vaughan (1765-1841) between 1815 and 1823. During this period, Sully's offices were in the American Philosophical Society's building, an organization in which Vaughan was an officer. After arriving from England in 1783 Vaughan, a wine merchant, was a prominent and active member of Philadelphia society, serving as curator of the Academy of Natural Sciences and director of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. He also founded the First Unitarian Church in Philadelphia.