Frederick Werner Bangs
Artist
Erastus Salisbury Field
(American, 1805-1900)
CultureAmerican
Dateca. 1830
MediumOil on canvas
DimensionsOverall: 30 1/4 x 24 1/2 in. (76.8 x 62.2 cm)
Credit LineGift of Edgar William and Bernice Chrysler Garbisch
Object number78.633.2
Not on view
DescriptionOil on canvas painting. It is a portrait of a young man sitting in a red chair with his left elbow resting on the chair arm. He wears a black suit with a wide white collar, held together by a black bow-tie, and printed vest. His hair brown, and is parted in the middle.Label TextJoseph Badger American, 1708–1765 Young Man of the Tuke Family, ca. 1745 Oil on canvas Erastus Salisbury Field American, 1805–1900 Frederick Werner Bangs, ca. 1830 Oil on canvas Despite their youth, both of these boys look out with confidence to meet the viewer’s gaze. Books and a quill indicate that 10-year-old Frederick Werner Bangs is from a household that values education and culture. The painter of this work, Erastus Salisbury Field, trained briefly in New York City but spent most of his career in rural western Massachusetts. Field’s portrait of Frederick Bangs’ stepmother, Julia, hangs to the right. Gifts of Edgar William and Bernice Chrysler Garbisch 74.6.14 and 78.633.2 ProvenanceLoan from Mr. and Mrs. Garbisch to the Chrysler Museum, 1976; Gift of Edgar William and Bernice Chrysler Garbisch to the Chrysler Museum at Norfolk, 1978. Exhibition History"Three Hundred Years of American Art in the Chrysler Museum," Chrysler Museum at Norfolk, Va., March 1 - July 4, 1976. "Edgar William and Bernice Chrysler Garbisch Gallery," Chrysler Museum at Norfolk, Va., 1977. "Eratus Salisbury Field: 1805-1900," Museum of Fine Arts, Springfield, Mass., Feb. 5 - April 1, 1984; National Museum of American Art and National Portrait Gallery, Washington, D.C., June 10 - Sept. 4, 1984; Museum of American Folk Art, New York, N.Y., Nov. - Dec. 1984; Marion Koogler McNay Art Institute, San Antonio, Tex., Jan. - Feb. 1985. "Democratic Designs: American Folk Paintings from the Chrysler Museum," Willoughby-Baylor House, Norfolk, VA, August 16, 2014 - April 5, 2015.Published ReferencesDennis R. Anderson, "Naive Gift Grows to Unprecedented Eighty Paintings," _Chrysler Museum at Norfolk Bulletin_ 5, no. 4 (April 1976): 2, 3. Mary Black, _Erastus Salisbury Field: 1805-1900_, exh. cat., Museum of Fine Arts, Springfield, Mass., 1984, 95, fig. 60, cat. no. 10. Museum staff, "Museum Paintings on National Tour," _Chrysler Museum Bulletin_ 14, no. 8 (August 1984): n.p.
