George Dury
George Dury | |
|---|---|
 Self-portrait, ca.1860 | |
| Born | May 15, 1817 |
| Died | December 2, 1894 (aged 77) Nashville, Tennessee, U.S. |
| Resting place | Mount Olivet Cemetery, Nashville |
| Nationality | Bavarian |
| Known for | Portrait painting |
| Notable work | Sarah Polk's White House Portrait. Portrait of Lola Montez |
| Spouse |
Katherine Schaeffer Dury
(m. 1849) |
| Patron(s) | Ludwig I of Bavaria |
George Dury (1817–1894) was a Bavarian portrait painter. He emigrated to the United States in 1849, and set up as an art teacher in Nashville, Tennessee. His work can be seen at the White House and the Tennessee State Museum.
Early life
Dury was born in Würzburg in the Kingdom of Bavaria in 1817, and trained as an artist in Munich.[1] The king, Ludwig I of Bavaria, became his patron; Dury painted his Irish mistress Lola Montez.[1] He also painted a miniature of Grand Duke Alexei Alexandrovich of Russia. Already before his emigration to the United States he had some contacts with Americans, having painted the portrait of Tennessee politician Felix Grundy (who died in 1840). Dury emigrated to the United States in 1849,[2][3] with his sister Josephine and Katherine Schaeffer, whom he married in Le Havre before taking ship.[4]
Career
Dury first settled in East Tennessee, and relocated to Nashville, Tennessee in 1850, where he set up a studio and worked as a portraitist.[2][3][5] With Confederate veteran Robert Loftin Newman, he "tried to establish an Academy of Fine Arts" in Nashville.[6]
Dury painted portraits of William Walker and Robert E. Lee; both are in the Tennessee State Museum, as is his portrait of Montez.[8][9][10][11] He also painted James D. Porter,[12] Robert Armstrong,[13] William Gannaway Brownlow,[14] Andrew Johnson,[15] Therese of Saxe-Hildburghausen,[16] and William Brimage Bate.[17] A portrait of Randal William McGavock is also attributed to him.[18]
Sarah Childress Polk sat for Dury in 1878, when she was seventy-five; a few years later, he was asked to make a copy for the White House of George Healy's official portrait of her.[19]
Death
Dury died on December 2, 1894 in Nashville, Tennessee.[2][3]
References
- ^ a b Tennessee Portrait Project: George Dury. Tennessee State Museum. Accessed February 2018.
- ^ a b c "Mr. Geo. Dury Dead. Well-Known Artist Passes Away in His 78th Year". The Nashville American. December 3, 1894. p. 8. Retrieved May 31, 2018 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ a b c "Portrait Painter Dead. George Dury Expires After Suffering Six Years From Paralysis". The Courier-Journal. Louisville, Kentucky. December 3, 1894. p. 1. Retrieved May 31, 2018 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Huddleston, Ed. "Dury Biography". Tennessee Portrait Project. Tennessee Fine Arts Center, Cheekwood.
- ^ "Tennessee State Library and Archives: Photograph and Image Search". tnsos.org. Retrieved 2018-05-10.
- ^ N.Y.), Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York (1965). American Paintings: A Catalogue of the Collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Metropolitan Museum of Art. ISBN 9780870994395.
- ^ "Dury With Family". Tennessee Portrait Project.
- ^ Tennessee Portrait Project: Walker, William. Tennessee State Museum. Accessed February 2018.
- ^ Tennessee Portrait Project: Lee, Robert E.. Tennessee State Museum. Accessed February 2018.
- ^ Tennessee Portrait Project: Montez, Lola. Tennessee State Museum. Accessed February 2018.
- ^ "Nashville now and then: Patriotism and portraiture | Nashville Post". Nashville Post. Retrieved 2018-05-10.
- ^ "James Porter". Tennessee Portrait Project.
- ^ "Armstrong Portrait". Tennessee Portrait Project.
- ^ "Gubernatorial Portrait of Brownlow". Tennessee Portrait Project.
- ^ "Portrait of President Andrew Johnson". Tennessee Portrait Project.
- ^ "Queen Of Bavaria". Tennessee Portrait Project.
- ^ "Governor Bate". Tennessee Portrait Project.
- ^ "Randal W. McGavock". Tennessee Portrait Project.
- ^ Anson Nelson, Fanny Nelson (1892). Memorials of Sarah Childress Polk, Wife of the Eleventh President of the United States. New York: Anson D.F. Randolph and Company. pp. 233–234.
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