Thomas Sully, 19 Jun 1783 - 5 Nov 1872 Search this
Sitter:
Benjamin Rush, 4 Jan 1746 - 19 April 1813 Search this
Medium:
Oil on canvas
Dimensions:
Frame: 129.5 × 109.2 × 10.2 cm (51 × 43 × 4")
Type:
Painting
Date:
1812
Exhibition Label:
Born Byberry Township, Pennsylvania
Benjamin Rush was a prominent physician, a social reformer, and a signer of the Declaration of Independence. After studying medicine abroad at the University of Edinburgh, he returned to Philadelphia to work. He advocated bloodletting and purges for many diseases but also moved the profession toward more manageable diagnoses and treatment regimens.
Rush’s accomplishments were many. He was a pioneer in the study of mental illness; he organized the Pennsylvania antislavery society; he agitated for prison reform and the education of women; and he wrote the first American chemistry text.
Thomas Sully depicted Rush as a thoughtful man of letters. One of Rush’s colleagues, who commis- sioned a version of this portrait, described how Sully “appreciate[d] the mind which animates the face of my friend . . . I have no doubt that you will be enabled to furnish me with a portrait which will be gratifying to me.”