Portrait of Samuel Vaughan
Dublin Core
Title
Portrait of Samuel Vaughan
Creator
Robert Edge Pine (1730-1788)
Contributor
American Philosophical Society. Gift at the bequest of John Vaughan, 1841.
Date
c. 1785
Description
Samuel Vaughan married Sarah Hallowell, the daughter of the King's Naval Commissioner in Boston, in 1750. The couple moved to Jamaica, where Benjamin was born, and later moved back to their house in London. In all, they had eleven children. A patriot for the American cause during the Revolutionary War, Samuel considered immigrating to America, where his wife owned property in Hallowell, Maine (then part of Massachusetts), but his wife preferred London.
Samuel was a devoted member of the American Philosophical Society and contributed funds to build Philosophical Hall, which can be glimpsed in the right-hand corner of this painting. He acted as the Society’s first vice-president under his friend and cofounder Benjamin Franklin, who can be seen in bas-relief behind him.
Vaughan is depicted here reading the “Constitution of the United States of America” and volumes by Enlightenment thinker John Locke and Unitarian minister, Richard Price. There are also copies of the American Philosophical Society’s Transactions in the lower left corner.
Samuel was a devoted member of the American Philosophical Society and contributed funds to build Philosophical Hall, which can be glimpsed in the right-hand corner of this painting. He acted as the Society’s first vice-president under his friend and cofounder Benjamin Franklin, who can be seen in bas-relief behind him.
Vaughan is depicted here reading the “Constitution of the United States of America” and volumes by Enlightenment thinker John Locke and Unitarian minister, Richard Price. There are also copies of the American Philosophical Society’s Transactions in the lower left corner.
Rights Holder
APS Museum
Files
Collection
Citation
Robert Edge Pine (1730-1788), “Portrait of Samuel Vaughan ,” APS Museum Online Collections, accessed April 25, 2024, https://exhibits.amphilsoc.org/sarah-manning-vaughan/items/show/16.