Major Thomas Biddle, 1818, Thomas Sully
Thomas Sully (1783-1872) was one of the greatest painters in American art. Major Thomas Biddle distinguished himself as an artilleryman during the war of 1812. This portrait was commissioned from Sully by Biddle’s father, when the twenty-eight-year-old was commander of Fort Mifflin. All of Sully’s bravura handling is on view, from the dramatic sky to the glistening epaulets to Biddle’s assured expression – which may owe something to artistic licence, as the sitter was notably nearsighted. Biddle later explored the West and became an Army paymaster and banker in Saint Louis, where he was killed in a duel in 1831 arising from a political dispute.