Barnabus Bates

Unidentified, Barnabus Bates, ca. 1850, watercolor on ivory, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase through the Catherine Walden Myer Fund, 1963.9.2
Copied Unidentified, Barnabus Bates, ca. 1850, watercolor on ivory, sight 1 1⁄8 x 7⁄8 in. (2.9 x 2.1 cm) oval, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase through the Catherine Walden Myer Fund, 1963.9.2
Free to use

Artwork Details

Title
Barnabus Bates
Artist
Unidentified
Date
ca. 1850
Location
Not on view
Dimensions
sight 1 1⁄8 x 7⁄8 in. (2.9 x 2.1 cm) oval
Credit Line
Museum purchase through the Catherine Walden Myer Fund
Mediums
Mediums Description
watercolor on ivory
Classifications
Subjects
  • Portrait male — Bates, Barnabus — bust
Object Number
1963.9.2
Linked Open Data
https://edan.si.edu/saam/id/object/1963.9.2

Artwork Description

There are many Americans of this name on record, but this may be the Barnabas Bates who served as New York’s assistant postmaster between 1833 and 1836. Born in Edmonton, England, Bates settled in New York City in 1830, where he opened a bookstore and published a small weekly journal. He soon left these positions and began working for the New York Democratic Party and the Equal Rights Party. He served as an advocate for reduced postal rates, which made public communication possible for a greater number of people. Bates died in 1853, not long after this miniature was painted. The date of the portrait and the pearls (associated with tears in the Victorian age) suggest that this miniature may have been a piece of mourning jewelry.