Benjamin Kintzing 1815

Benjamin Trott made this portrait of Benjamin Kintzing in watercolor on ivory. Small portraits like this were popular in the United States during the late 1700s and early 1800s, often worn as jewelry. Benjamin Kintzing’s fashionable attire in this image reflects the wealth of the sitter, while the pearl border speaks to the cultural elite to which he belonged. But the small scale also gives it a sense of intimacy, as does the loose handling of the watercolors. Trott moved to Philadelphia, then the nation’s capital, in 1793, the same year that the Philadelphia Museum, later the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, was founded. He was among the first American artists to work exclusively in portrait miniatures, which became popular in the 1790s. His career reflects the growth of art institutions in the new republic. To understand how the cultural elite shaped the arts, one can consult sources such as diaries, letters, newspapers, and financial documents. In the end, art is always contingent on the society that produces it.