Portrait of Captain John Lewis (1747-1825)

signed C.W. Peale lower right

oil on canvas

31 x 26 in.

PROVENANCE:

Colonel Fielding Lewis (1725-1781), "Warner Hall," Gloucester County, Virginia, father of the sitter

Thence by descent in the family

Cecile (Seligman) Lehman Mayer (1893-1962), Manhattan and Tarrytown, New York

Betty (Lehman) Asiel (1918-1999), White Plains, New York, daughter

As recorded by Charles Coleman Sellers, it is likely that the sitter is Captain John Lewis (1747-1825) of 'Warner Hall' in Gloucester County, Virginia. The Lewis family had numerous familial ties to President George Washington. John was the son of Colonel Fielding Lewis (1725-1781) and Catharine Washington (1723/4-1750), and grandson of John Washington, the President's uncle. Fielding later married Betty Washington (1733-1797), the President's younger sister.

As noted in his diary, Washington was very close with his kinsman John Lewis. On August 20, 1769, at his estate Mount Vernon, Washington "[w]ent to Church in the fore and Afternoon. Mr. Jno. Lewis dined here. Lord Fairfax &ca. drank Tea here."([August 1769], Founders Online, National Archives (http://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/01-02-02-0004-002,ve r. 2014-05-09). Source: Donald Jackson, ed., The Diaries of George Washington, vol. 2, 14 January 1766-31 December 1770 (Charlottesville, 1976), pp. 173-177). During the Revolutionary War, the sitter was a partner in his father's gunpowder manufactory in Fredericksburg, Virginia. Upon his father's death, John inherited his land holdings in Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania County. He was married five times and moved to Kentucky in 1811, where he died in 1825 (Frank E. Grizzard, George Washington: A Biographical Companion (Santa Barbara, 2002), p. 192).