Cornelis Wynkoop

Maker Pieter Vanderlyn (American, ca. 1687 - 1778)

Collections

American Paintings Selections

ClassificationsPAINTINGS

Dateca. 1743

Mediumoil on panel

Dimensionspanel: 41 × 33 in. (104.1 × 83.8 cm.) frame: 52 3/4 × 44 1/2 × 2 1/4 in. (134 × 113 × 5.7 cm.)

Credit LineThe Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens. Gift of the Virginia Steele Scott Foundation

Status

On view

Label TextIn this portrait Cornelius Wynkoop points to the sources of his family's wealth - land, animals, and slaves - which he will later inherit. As a grown man, he fought in the American Revolution, becoming a colonel in the Continental Army. In 1792, Wynkoop was killed by one of his slaves; thus his gesture of ownership eerily foreshadows his death.

Pieter Vanderlyn was a self-taught portrait-painter, or "limner," who depicted Dutch landowners and their children in the Hudson River Valley during the first half of the 18th century. Vanderlyn often based the poses and costumes of his figures on engraved portraits of English aristocrats by artists like Peter Lely and Godfrey Kneller (whose work is on view in the Huntington Art Gallery).

Object number83.8.49

Exhibitions

American Made: Selections from The Huntington's Early American Art Collections