Charles Willing
Artist
John Wollaston the younger
(English, active in America, about 1710–1775)
Date1746
Mediumoil on canvas
Dimensionscanvas: 75.6 x 62.2 cm (29 3/4 x 24 1/2 in.)
ClassificationsPaintings
Credit LineGiven by the friends of Louisa Dresser Campbell, retired Curator of the Collection, and the Albert W. Rice Trust in her honor
Object number1979.30
DescriptionDark-painted spandrels in the four corners create an oval frame for this bust view of Charles Willing. He is turned slightly to the viewer’s left and wears a powdered gray queue wig with two tight, horizontal curls on each side and a black bow at the nape of his neck. Black, gray, and white brushstrokes are apparent in the wig. The artist carefully shaded Willing’s white neck cloth with a gray-blue paint. He wears a brown velvet coat, which is unbuttoned to reveal a waistcoat of the same material and color, fastened with six brown buttons. Five brown buttons are visible on the left side of the coat, six large buttonholes on the right. The right edges of the buttons are slightly highlighted with yellowish-tan paint. The same color was boldly used to suggest the highlights along the outside of the sitter’s left arm as well as along the inside of that arm and across the top two buttonholes. Similar highlights appear above, below, and through the fastened buttons on the waistcoat, indicating folds in the fabric.The sitter’s face is large and round. His eyebrows were formed with brown and gray strokes of paint, beneath which some flesh-colored paint can be seen. The eyelids are obscured with gray paint, but a reddish-brown line marks the bottom of the lids. Willing’s eyes are blue. The iris and large pupil are oval. A small dot of white opaque paint appears in the upper right of each pupil. In the corner of the left eye is a daub of flesh-colored paint. A white highlight running the length of the nose ends, at the tip, with a circular daub of paint. A dark, reddish-brown shadow falls along the left side of the nose. Reddish-brown shadows from the wig are visible at the hairline on both sides of the sitter’s face and below his double chin. His cheeks are red. His lips are full and appear to be outlined in gray; there is a pronounced indentation in the upper lip. The background is made up of varying shades of gray. For instance, below Willing’s face and to his left the background is relatively light, with areas of pink blended into the gray. The background becomes a darker gray at the lower left.
Label TextThis portrait of Philadelphia merchant Charles Willing showcases two characteristics of John Wollaston’s style. The British-born artist had exceptional talent for painting clothing, Willing has the softened features and elongated, almond-shaped eyes that Wollaston bestowed on almost all of his sitters. Willing was able to afford luxuries, like this portrait, due to the wealth he accumulated as an active participant in the Transatlantic Slave Trade. He was known to have publicly sold enslaved peoples, as indicated by classified advertisements in the Pennsylvania Gazette, such as this one from January 22, 1745: Just imported in the Ship Dorothy, John Nicholls Master, from Bristol, and to be sold by Charles Willing, A Parcel of likely Servants, Men and Boys, some bred up to Trades, and others fit for Town or Country Business. He personally owned at least four slaves, including a “Negroe Wench Cloe,” a “Negroe Girl Venus,” a “Negro Man John,” and a “Negro Boy Litchfield.” Sources: Will of Charles Willing, 1754, will no. 146, Philadelphia City Hall; Pennsylvania Gazette, June 25, 1747; Nov. 26, 1747; Mar. 29, 1748; May 5, 1748; Apr. 26, 1750; Sept. 20, 1753; and Nov. 22, 1753.ProvenanceDr. Charles Willing (1806–1887), great-grandson of the sitter, from at least 1855 until his death; to his wife, Rebecca Tillinghast Willing (d. 1889); to Dr. Charles Willing’s cousin Edward Shippen Willing (1822–1906); to his daughter Ava Lowle Willing (Mrs. John Jacob Astor, later Lady Ribblesdale); to her daughter Alice Muriel Obolensky (1902–1956); to her son Ivan Obolensky; to Robert G. Osborne, Inc., New York, 1969; purchased from Osborne by the Worcester Art Museum, 1979
On View
On view
