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What’s in a Portrait?
by Hilary Anderson Stelling, Director of Collections and Exhibitions, Scottish Rite
A portrait is someone’s likeness captured in paint, ink, or in a photograph, but it is also much more. Portraits serve many purposes: they function as personal and family mementos, document accomplishments, or show the owner’s admiration of a celebrated figure. They help us remember past lives. The portraits in the collection of the Scottish Rite Masonic Museum and Library tell the story of the many people who participated in and shaped Masonic and fraternal organizations in the United States for over 200 years. Artist Joseph Davis specialized in images that combined profile portraits with the kind of information found on family records. Here he depicts a husband, wife, and their young son. While Mehitable Wentworth holds her new baby, her husband Andrew grasps objects associated with Freemasonry in his hands—a membership certificate or chart, a square and compasses. The tools may have held a double meaning for Andrew—census records list his occupation as “Mason.”
Famous Masons In the past, many people valued portraits of important and recognizable figures. Nineteenth-century printmakers and publishers capitalized on their fame of some leaders, like George Washington and Benjamin Franklin, and created images portraying these revered figures in their roles as Freemasons to appeal to Masonic Andrew, Daniel, and Mehitable Wentworth, 1833. Joseph H. Davis, Berwick, Maine. Special Acquisitions Fund, 90.32. Photograph by David Bohl.
consumers. Brethren could purchase affordable prints of these subjects to display in their homes. These images were also part of the décor of many Masonic buildings where portraits of well-known Freemasons reminded members and visitors of these admired heroes’ connection with the fraternity. Starting in the 1860s, prints of Washington as a Freemason were particularly popular. This colorful version also featured small portraits of two other well-known Masons, the Marquis de Lafayette and Andrew Jackson. Washington as a Freemason, 1870. Strobridge and Co., Cincinnati, Ohio. Special Acquisitions Fund, 78.74.18.
Signs and Symbols Men have long taken pride in their association with Freemasonry. In the 1800s and 1900s, some Masons commissioned portraits of themselves and, in them, chose to be presented as members of the fraternity, wearing jewelry or regalia that identified them as Freemasons—along with their best and most fashionable clothing. Some of these portraits marked personal achievements such as serving as a lodge officer, while others included more subtle indications that the subject belonged to a fraternal group. The subject of this portrait wears a Royal Arch sash and apron. The color and metallic highlights added to the image draw attention to subject’s regalia. Man in Royal Arch Regalia, 1850-1860. Museum Purchase with the assistance of the Kane Lodge Foundation, 2010.010. Photograph by David Bohl.
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The Northern Light
