Joshua Bates

Chester Harding
American, 1792-1866
Joshua Bates
Mid-19th century
Oil on canvas

Joshua Bates (1788-1864) was a merchant banker born in Weymouth. Bates was the earliest benefactor of the Boston Public Library.  Bates Hall, the reading room on the second floor of the Boston Public Library, is named for him. Bates was the uncle of Maria Weston Chapman, whose portrait bust by Edmonia Lewis is also in the collections of the Weymouth Public Libraries. Chapman’s education in London was funded by Bates. 

This portrait of Bates was painted by Chester Harding, who was born in Conway, Massachusetts. Like Bates, Harding spent time in both the United States and England. Harding was largely self-taught, but his work shows the influence of the distinctly American portrait style of Gilbert Stuart. A looser style of brushwork was preferred in England, which Harding adopted after his time there. Although the exact date of this portrait is unknown, given the apparent age of Bates, it was most likely painted after Harding’s time in England. However, this painting has the smooth brushwork and luminosity more typical of Stuart’s work.

Sources

Chamberlain, George Walter. History of Weymouth, Massachusetts, vol. 3. Weymouth Historical Society, 1923.

"Chester Harding." Britannica Library, Encyclopædia Britannica, 1 February 2002. https://library.eb.com/levels/referencecenter/article/Chester-Harding/39230. Accessed 25 November 2020.

“Chester Harding.” National Gallery of Art. https://www.nga.gov/collection/artist-info.1372.html#biography. Accessed 1 December 2020.

“Gilbert Stuart.’ Britannica Library, Encyclopædia Britannica, 29 November 2020. https://www.britannica.com/biography/Gilbert-Stuart. Accessed 19 January 2021.

Reynolds, Kim. “Notable Women, Notable Manuscripts: Maria Weston Chapman.” Boston Public Library, 25 March 2019, https://www.bpl.org/blogs/post/notable-women-notable-manuscripts-maria-w.... Accessed 1 December 2020.