Major Simeon Theus

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TitleMajor Simeon Theus

Artist Samuel F.B. Morse (American, 1791 - 1872)

Daten.d.

MediumOil on canvas

DimensionsUnframed: 29 1/2 × 24 1/2 in. Framed: 35 × 30 × 2 in.

Credit LineNational Academy of Design, New York, NY, Gift of the estate of William Anderton Chisolm, 1999

Object number1999.1

Label TextMajor Simeon Theus (1748-1821) was the third son of Jeremiah Theus, the portrait painter of Charleston, South Carolina. He distinguished himself in the Revolutionary War, having entered service in August 1777 with the commission of captain in the First South Carolina Regiment. Following the war he held a series of positions having to do with the financial administration of the State: commissioner to establish the amount of war debt that would be assumed by the Federal government; Treasurer of the State of South Carolina; and Cashier of the State Bank of South Carolina. At the time of his death he was the United States Collector of Customs in Charleston.
Morse first went to Charleston in search of portrait commissions in the winter of 1817-18. He had some success and consequently returned to Charleston each winter through 1821. Although his portrait of Theus is undated, it almost certainly was executed within one of Morse's stays in Charleston. The portrait descended in the Theus family until 1939 when it was auctioned at Parke-Bernet in New York (sale 145). The buyer on that occasion was William Garnett Chisolm, father of William Anderton Chisolm.