Henry Fitzhugh (1723-1783)

Henry Fitzhugh was the eldest son of Henry Fitzhugh (1687-1758) and Susanna Cooke Fitzhugh of Bedford. He married Sarah Battaile in 1746. The portrait was originally painted in 1751. In 1767, Henry Fitzhugh paid Hesselius to make alterations to it. There is evidence of alteration in the cravat, cuffs, waistcoat buttons, and the original waistcoat color was blue and his hair was originally a white wig.

Reference: August 1767 account records, “By altering my picture and my wifes £2:12:0/
By drawing Sallys do half £10:2:0/ [total] £13:0:0,” in Fitzhugh Family Papers, Duke University. Copy in object file.

Dimensions: 30 x 25 1/2 in. (76.2 x 64.8 cm.)

The subject wears a light brown jacket and waistcoat. His left hand is in his waistcoat. He appears inside a painted oval frame. Inscribed on the back below relining: “Maj. Henry Fitzhugh Son of Capt Henry Fitzhugh Aetatis 28 1751 John Hesselius Pinx.”

See: Carolyn J. Weekley, Painters and Paintings in the Early American South (2013), 256-259; Richard K. Doud, “The Fitzhugh Portraits by John Hesselius,” The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography 75, no. 2 (April 1967): 159-173.