Independence (Squire Jack Porter)

Frank Blackwell Mayer, Independence (Squire Jack Porter), 1858, oil on paperboard, 12 x 15 ⁷⁄₈ in. (30.4 x 40.3 cm.), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Bequest of Harriet Lane Johnston, 1906.9.11

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Artwork Details

Title: Independence (Squire Jack Porter)
Artist: Frank Blackwell Mayer
Date: 1858
Location: Smithsonian American Art Museum
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2nd Floor
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South Wing
Dimensions: 12 x 15 ⁷⁄₈ in. (30.4 x 40.3 cm.)
Credit Line: Bequest of Harriet Lane Johnston
Mediums: oil
Mediums Description: oil on paperboard
Classifications: Painting
Subjects: Recreation — leisure — smoking
Allegory — quality — determination
Portrait male — Porter, Jack
Architecture Exterior — detail — porch
Architecture Exterior — domestic — house
Object Number: 1906.9.11
Linked Open Data: https://edan.si.edu/saam/id/object/1906.9.11

Artwork Description

Jack Porter, a veteran of the War of 1812 who made a handsome living from Pennsylvania's coal mines, is surrounded by handmade objects, including a corncob pipe, a roughly-hewn wooden bench, and his wife's knitting. As a self-sufficient landholder and businessman, "Squire Jack" embodied an independent and enduring spirit that, by the 1850s, had become an American ideal, celebrated by painters and writers alike. The squire takes his ease on the porch of a substantial home, dressed in a flowered vest, black cravat, and polished boots that signal the rewards of his hard work.

Exhibition Label, Smithsonian American Art Museum, 2006