Images(2)

DeLafayette Schenck

Artist Micah Williams

Periodca. 1827

MediumPastel on paper

Dimensions25 × 21 in. (63.5 × 53.3 cm)

InscribedFaint handwritten ink inscription in top left corner of newspaper lining, "D. Schenck."

ClassificationsPortraits

Credit LineGift of Mrs. J. Amory Haskell, 1940

Object number1509

DescriptionThree-quarter length portrait of a middle aged male figure facing right, wearing a bright royal blue coat with four gold buttons showing, black vest, white shirt with high collar, and a white stock. He wears his dark brown hair arranged in a high pompadour falling above the forehead, with long sideburns brushed forward toward his cheeks. The background is a subdued, shaded bluish gray-green. He has ruddy cheeks and full face, with bright blue eyes and a hint of a smile. The paper is affixed to white pine stretchers, and lined with a newspaper sheet from The True American that is dated 4 October 1826, and another newspaper fragment glued to the stretcher top from the New Jersey Patriot dated 14 June 182[?] No. 44.
Curatorial RemarksWilliams captured Schenck's gregarious nature in his piercing blue eyes and the hint of a smile on his lips. The subject also sat later in life for a daguerreotype. Although his hair had turned from dark brown to snowy white, he still wore it arranged in the same style.NotesDeLafayette Schenck (1781 - 1862) was one of thirteen children born to Capt. John Schanck and Mary Denise. He was named after the Marquis De Lafayette, a popular choice for male infants born during and immediately following the American revolution. DeLafayette Schenck was a highly energetic and public spirited adult. After marrying Eleanor Conover in 1805, he started a tanning and currying business in Matawan in addition to running his own sixty-acre farm. DeLafayette and Nelly, as his wife was called, had at least ten children. Schenck was instrumental in beginning the Farmers’ and Merchants’ Bank at Middletown Point, and served as the organization’s first president. He helped to develop Keyport into a thriving steamboat port and owned a good deal of waterfront property there. DeLafayette lived in Keyport during the last seven years of his life to be closer to his many business interests. His surname appeared as “Schanck” as well as “Schenck” in period documents, and he signed his name both ways, most often using the “Schenck” spelling.

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