Christian Daniel Welfare

Artist/Maker
Welfare, Daniel
Place Made
Salem North Carolina United States of America
Date Made
1825
Medium
oil on canvas
Dimensions
HOA 84; WOA 46 3/4″; DOA 3 1/4″ DOA including lip at bottom 5 3/4″; Step HOA; 7 1/2″; WOA 51; DOA 13″
Accession Number
P-86
Description
DESCRIPTION: Life-size self-portrait of Daniel Welfare. The artist is dressed in a dark suit and is holding artists’ brushes in left hand. The artist has positioned himself in a doorway as if inviting visitors into his gallery. Just inside the door is a marble statue of a Greek god, possibly Apollo (the god of art and music). The brushes in the artist’s hand provide a discreet cover below the statue’s waist. Leaning up against the pedestal on which the staue stands is a portfolio tied closed with a woven tape.

The first Salem-born portrait and landscape painter, Daniel Welfare, travelled to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to study painting with Thomas Sully in 1824. He exhibited some of his work at the Pennsylvania Academy of Art in 1825 before returning to Salem where he established a gallery in 1829. He also had a gallery here in Salem.

Credit Line
Wachovia Historical Society Collection