Daniel Hendrickson

PeriodCirca 1755 - 1768

Place MadeMiddletown or Perth Amboy, New Jersey, U.S.A.

MediumGraphite, pen and ink on cream paper mounted on brown paper

Dimensions3.75 × 2.88 in. (9.5 × 7.3 cm)

InscribedHandwritten in ink below the oval is the inscription "Mr. Daniel Hendrickson. / Sketch by John Watson Portrait / Painter of Perth Amboy --." In pencil below the ink inscription is the notation "Presumed to be the "Daniel Hendrickson Pinxt" who died June 24 1788 aged 65 yrs 3 / mos 10 days." An additional pencil inscription reading "Mr. Daniel / Hendrickson" is written in the lower right corner of the brown paper.

ClassificationsPortrait Miniatures & Silhouettes

Credit LineMuseum Purchase, 1946

Object number3037

DescriptionA portrait of Daniel Hendrickson, in three quarters view turned towards the left. Hendrickson has a broad forehead, bulbous nose, dark eyes, and full cheeks, and wears a carefully powdered and curled white wig. The sitter wears a dark coat and waistcoat and a white shirt with a simply tied white stock. The oval is mounted on a piece of brown paper.
Curatorial RemarksArtist John Watson was born in 1685 in Scotland. He emigrated to America and settled in Perth Amboy in or around 1714, where he lived until his death on 22 August 1768. Watson worked in New York City and in New Jersey, producing oil and plumbago (pencil) portraits of numerous clients.NotesDaniel Hendrickson (2 March 1723 - 21 June 1788) was a prosperous Middletown farmer and businessman. Highly energetic and creative, Hendrickson was an artist of some note, producing portraits of family and neighbors, as well as at least one self portrait. His marriage to Catharine Covenhoven on 22 December 1743 produced three sons (Daniel, Cornelius, and Hendrick) and a daughter, Catherine. Daniel's portrait of his daughter is now in the collection of the National Gallery in Washington, D.C. Daniel Hendrickson's self portrait is in the Historical Association (Accession number 1976.16.1) as is a portrait of friend and neighbor Pieter Luyster (1976.12.2). According to a brief biographical sketch by the Reverend Garrett Conover Schenck, Daniel Hendrickson "was possessed of a decided taste for music" and "had also an unusual genius for painting as without any known instruction and in a creditable manner he executed life size portraits in oil of himself, [and] several of his family. Hendrickson was known as "Dominie Daniel," preaching on occasion at the Dutch Reformed Churches of Middletown and Freehold. Reverend Schenck also noted that "in the times of the Revolutionary War [Hendrickson] was advanced in life and his corpulency unfitted him to take an active part in the conflict but he was a decided Patriot..."

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