Man with a Pen

Arts of the Americas

1827–30

Jonas Welch Holman
American, 1805–1873

Jonas Holman worked as a portrait painter, writer, doctor, and preacher, supporting himself through these vocations as he traveled among Baptist congregations. By 1827 he had made his way to Philadelphia where he painted seven known portraits, among them Woman with a Book and Man with a Pen. In these works Holman substituted a brilliant, tasseled curtain for a plain background. He showed his sitters in painted “fancy” chairs, with broad, Greek Revival crest rails, similar to painted furniture made in Philadelphia or Baltimore. Like Ammi Phillips, Holman used props that pointed to the sitters’ erudition; he also concentrated on the details of his sitters’ costumes, showing women with rings and earrings and men with stickpins fastened to cravats.

Status: Currently Off View
Department: Arts of the Americas

Artist: Jonas Welch Holman
Title: Man with a Pen
Place: Philadelphia (Object made in:)
Date Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.: c. 1827–1830
Medium: Oil on yellow poplar panel
Dimensions: 70.8 × 54.6 cm (27 7/8 × 21 1/2 in.)
Credit Line: Gift of Robert Allerton
Reference Number: 1946.392
IIIF Manifest The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world. Learn more.: https://api.artic.edu/api/v1/artworks/120103/manifest.json

Art Institute of Chicago, Calendar 1983, May/June 1983, p. 3 (ill.).
Judith A. Barter and Monica Obniski, “For Kith and Kin: The Folk Art Collection at the Art Institute of Chicago,” (Art Institute of Chicago/Yale University Press, 2012) no. 26.
Elizabeth McGoey and Elizabeth Siegel, “Photography + Folk Art at the Art Institute of Chicago,” The Decorative Arts Trust Magazine (Summer 2019): 16, fig. 4 (ill.).
Karla Klein Albertson, “Photography + Folk Art,” Antiques and the Arts Weekly, Nov. 19, 2019, https://www.antiquesandthearts.com/photography-folk-art, ill.

Chicago Merchandise Mart, 1950 (from object file).
Chicago, Carson Pirie Scott & Co.: window display, Apr. 11–30, 1952.
Chicago, Charles A. Stevens Store, Mar. 27–May 27, 1956.
Art Institute of Chicago, Photography + Folk Art: Looking for America in the 1930s, Sept. 21, 2019–Jan. 19, 2020, no cat.

Philadelphia Collection; sold to Downtown Gallery / American Folk Art Gallery, New York, NY, by 1938; sold to Robert Allerton, Chicago, 1938; given to the Art Institute of Chicago, 1946.

Object information is a work in progress and may be updated as new research findings emerge. To help improve this record, please email . Information about image downloads and licensing is available here.

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Date Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.

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IIIF Manifest The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world.

Learn more.