George Washington Egleston

Artist/Maker
Scarborough, William Harrison
Place Made
Charleston South Carolina United States of America
Date Made
1840-45
Medium
paint on canvas
Dimensions
HOA: 41″; WOA: 35 1/2″
Accession Number
5792.1
Description
SITTER: George Washington Egleston (July 17, 1795 – December 6, 1863 ) was a prominent Charleston attorney. He was the son of Major Azariah Egleston and Hannah Peterson Egleston of Lenox, Massachusetts, but moved to Charleston at a relatively young age to pursue his legal career. He married Sophia Catherine Heriot (1800-1835) and Martha (DuBose) Porcher (1807-1865).

ARTIST: William Harrison Scarborough (1812-1871). Portrait and miniature painter, born November 7, 1812, at Dover (Tennessee). After studying art and medicine in Cincinnati and working as a portraitist for a few years in Tennessee, Scarborough moved to South Carolina in 1830. In 1836 he married into a prominent family there and he lived in Darlington District for several years before settling in 1843 at Columbia, where he made his home for the rest of his life. He enjoyed considerable success as a painter of portraits and miniatures in North and South Carolina and Georgia, and also made frequent visits to New York City, though he never had a studio in the North. In 1857 he went abroad for a year of European study. Scarborough died in Columbia on August 16, 1871. His sketchbooks, diaries, and many examples of his portrait work are owned by descendants in South Carolina.

RELATED OBJECTS: The MESDA Collection has on loan portraits of both George Washington Egleston and his wife Martha (Dubose) Porcher Egleston by William Harrison Scarborough (MESDA acc. 5792.1-2). The collection also has on loan a pitcher by Charleston, South Carolina, silversmith John Ewan that belonged to Martha (Dubose) Porcher Egleston (MESDA acc. 5912).

REFERENCES: Helen Kohn Hennig, “William Harrison Scarborough” (Columbia, South Carolina: 1937)

History
Descended in the family of the sitter.
Artist Biography
ARTIST: William Harrison Scarborough (1812-1871). Portrait and miniature painter, born November 7, 1812, at Dover (Tennessee). After studying art and medicine in Cincinnati and working as a portraitist for a few years in Tennessee, Scarborough moved to South Carolina in 1830. In 1836 he married into a prominent family there and he lived in Darlington District for several years before settling in 1843 at Columbia, where he made his home for the rest of his life. He enjoyed considerable success as a painter of portraits and miniatures in North and South Carolina and Georgia, and also made frequent visits to NYC, though he never had a studio in the North. In 1857 he went abroad for a year of European study. Scarborough died in Columbia on August 16, 1871. His sketchbooks, diaries, and many examples of his portrait work are owned by descendants in South Carolina. ¶Hennig, William Harrison Scarborough, contains an account of the artist’s life and a checklist of his work.

George C. Groce and David H. Wallace. THE NEW-YORK HISTORICAL SOCIETY’S DICTIONARY OF ARTISTS IN AMERICA: 1564-1860. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1957.

Credit Line
Loan courtesy of Robert J. Egleston