Portrait of Marcus Camillus Knox by Joseph Wright, ca. 1791
Marcus Camillus was the second son of Henry and Lucy Knox, and was regarded by the family as a promising young lad who would follow in his father’s footsteps. Unfortunately his death at the age of 8 on September 8, 1791 intervened. Apparently the grief-stricken parents immediately commissioned a posthumous portrait, probably sketched while the boy was laid out. On October 5, 1791 Knox noted in his account book, now at the Maine Historical Society,Paid Joseph Wright painter for a picture of my dead son Marcus $32.66/ 7 Guineas. Wright had moved to Philadelphia shortly before the commission, and was one of the most prominent American artists of his time. It is the last portrait that can definitely be attributed to Wright before his death in 1793. The painting is oil on canvas.
Donated to Montpelier by Henry Thatcher Fowler
Donated to Montpelier by Henry Thatcher Fowler
Accession number: H-1-05
