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17
Thomas Sully
(American, born England, 1783–1872)
William Wagner (1796–1885), 1836
Oil on canvas, 30 x 25 inches
Recorded: Edward Biddle and Mantle Fielding, The Life and Works of Thomas Sully
(Charleston, S.C.: Garnier and Co., 1969), p. 306, no. 1867
Thomas Sully was one of the most skilled and prolific portrait painters in America in the nineteenth century. Sully emigrated
from England in 1792 with his actor-parents, who came to the United States under the sponsorship of his father’s brotherin-law,
a theater manager. Sully grew up in cities all along the East Coast, but he received drawing instruction at the
Reverend Robert Smith’s school in Charleston, South Carolina, where he also studied with his brother-in-law, the Frenchborn
miniaturist and drawing teacher, Jean Belzons (active in the United States, 1794–1812). Sully began painting
professionally with his brother Lawrence Sully (1769–1804) in both Richmond and Norfolk, Virginia. In 1807 Sully went
to Boston to visit the famous painter Gilbert Stuart (1755–1828), but by 1808 had settled in Philadelphia with his wife,
Sarah Annis, at Sixth and Minor streets. Sully subsequently moved to 11 South Fifth Street, where he would remain until
his death. To refine his artistic skills, however, in 1809 Sully traveled to England, where he received the advice of Sir William
Beechey (1753–1839), Sir Thomas Lawrence (1769–1830), and Benjamin West (1738–1820).
In his 70-year career, Sully painted over 2,000 portraits, including those of some of the most distinguished personages of
his time: Fanny Kemble, Andrew Jackson, William Strickland, and even Queen Victoria. He was made an honorary member
of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts and the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia and the National Academy of
Design in New York. Sully had numerous students and was an astute businessman, establishing one of Philadelphia’s first
commercial galleries, in partnership with the framer James S. Earle.
The subject of this portrait, “Professor” William Wagner, was a wealthy Philadelphia merchant who traded in coal and
lumber throughout North and South America. He was also a noted amateur scientist who amassed a substantial collection
of natural history specimens, including minerals, fossils, sea shells, and animal skeletons. A philanthropist who was
committed to educating the public, Wagner began to give free lectures on natural science at his home, Elm Grove.
In 1855 he founded the Wagner Free Institute of Science and obtained permission from municipal authorities to use Spring
Garden Hall, on the corner of Spring Garden and Thirteenth streets, as a place to house his collection and library and to hold
educational programs. In order to create a permanent home for the Institute, Wagner constructed a three-story exhibition hall
on the southwest corner of Montgomery Avenue and Seventeenth Street in 1865. 1 The Wagner Free Institute of Science remains
at this location, and it is noteworthy as having the oldest program devoted to free adult education in the United States.
Commissioned by a Philadelphia merchant named George Nugent, this portrait was commenced on July 1 and completed
on July 19, 1836, for a fee of $150. Wagner had commissioned Sully to paint a portrait of Nugent in 1827. 2 The exact
relationship of Wagner and Nugent is unknown, but it is likely that they were business associates and friends. This painting,
the earliest known likeness of Wagner, is a typical example of Sully’s bust portraiture of the mid-1830s.
Notes
—Robert Wilson Torchia
1. For information on the Institute, see J. Thomas Scharf and Thompson Westcott, History of Philadelphia, 1609–1884 (Philadelphia: L. H. Everts
and Co., 1884), vol. 2, pp. 1225–27, and Morris J. Vogel, Cultural Connections: Museums and Libraries of Philadelphia and the Delaware Valley
(Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1991), p. 60. 2. Sully’s portrait of Nugent is illustrated and discussed in American Paintings, Philadelphia
Collection LXVIII (Philadelphia: Schwarz Gallery, 2001), no. 13 (repro. in color).