Hawkins, Rush Christopher (1831-1920)
Role:Dates:
Portrait Location: Annmary Brown Memorial
Artist: Blondel, Jacob D. (1817-1877)
Portrait Date:
Medium: oil on canvas
Dimensions: 10
Framed Dimensions:
Brown Portrait Number: 91
Brown Historical Property Number: 2250
Rush Christopher Hawkins was a native of Pomfret, Vermont. When only 15 years of age, he enlisted to fight in the Mexican-American War. After the war, he studied law and made New York his home. In 1860, he married Annmary Brown (see BP 89 and 90), the granddaughter of Nicholas Brown (see BP 2 and 85), for whom Brown University was named in 1804. The Civil War would again call him to duty: he served as Colonel with the 9th New York Volunteers and became Brigadier General in 1866. Hawkins was a renowned book collector, specializing in early print editions, and as a noted art connoisseur and collector of early modern representational paintings. Catalogs of his extensive and exquisite collections were published. He felt committed to what he considered refining the American public's aesthetic sense and taste for fine art. C. H. Collins Baker, who published the catalog of Hawkins's art collection in 1903, elaborates on the "patriotic motive behind Hawkins' collection building efforts" in his preface: "[P]atriotic Americans have pledged themselves to make up for America's lack of an art heritage by importing the finest examples of European and Eastern art that fall within their range" (Annmary Brown Memorial web site).
Hawkins was appointed assistant "Commissaire Expert des Beaux Arts" for the United States Commission at the 1889 Universal Exposition in Paris. The rejection of ten of James McNeill Whistler's twenty-seven submissions for inclusion in the representative selection of American art caused an open dispute between Hawkins and Whistler. Christopher Rush Hawkins died at the age of 90, when he was struck by an automobile while crossing a street near his home in New York City.
Jacob Blondel was a New York City artist known for his portraits, religious works, and landscapes. Although at one time, his career thrived, he is said to have been reduced to such poverty that he eventually starved to death in his studio.