Pitt, Peale & the Patriots Symposium

Pitt, Peale & the Patriots Symposium

A Collaborative Effort of Stratford Hall Historic Preserve, Preservation Northern Neck and Middle Peninsula, and Westmoreland County Museum. A Northern Neck 250 event.

In the walk-up to commemorations of this nation’s 250th anniversary, join us in the Stratford Hall Council House for a symposium on patriot and painter Charles Willson Peale’s portrait of British statesman WIlliam Pitt. Edmund Jenings of Maryland and London gifted the portrait to the “gentlemen [and women] of Westmoreland” through the offices of Richard Henry Lee. The painting hung at Lee residences Chantilly and Stratford Hall before settling ultimately in the Westmoreland County Museum, where it hangs today. An exquisite reproduction to scale now adorns the parlor at Stratford Hall. Come experience and learn about the 8 ft. by 5 ft. painting a contemporary hailed as a “masterly performance,” but a later historian called an “inflated political cartoon.”

Speakers will focus on the historical context and significance of the Pitt portrait and commission, its political and art historical contents, and the art and value of its reproduction for Stratford Hall.

The one-day symposium opens at 1 p.m. with a keynote by Dr. J. Patrick Mullins, Associate Professor of History and DIrector of Public HIstory at Marquette University. A reception at the Inn at Montross and viewing of the Peale original concludes the day. Distinguished speakers include Lucinda Dukes Edinberg (Curator, Hammond-Harwood House Museum), Bradley Stevens (realist painter and accomplished portraitist), F. Carey Howlett (Conservator of Historic Furniture and Architectural Interiors), and Sandy Jennings (Conservator of Gilded Objects). 

Seating is limited, so reserve your space now! Traveling from a distance to attend? Stratford Hall offers high-quality and affordable accommodation; contact (804) 493-1967 for details or book your room here: www.stratfordhall.org/lodging.

$30 General Admission

$20 for Friends of Stratford, Preservation Northern Neck & Middle Peninsula members, and Westmoreland County Museum members

$10 for Students