Artist: Samuel Finley Breese Morse P.N.A. (1791 – 1872) was an American inventor and painter. He was a co-developer of Morse code.
Engraver: Daggett and Hinman - Daggett-1794 - 1872; Hinman - 1830-40's. (The New Haven Museum).
Title: Sheldon Clark (1785 - 1840).
Titled, Dated, and Signed in plate: Painted by S.F.P. Morse P.N.A. Engraved by Daggett Hinman & Co. Sheldon Clark [printed and facsimile of signature].
Dimensions: 8 7/8" x 5 5/8".
Date: Mid XIX C.
Materials and Techniques: steel engraving on wove paper.
Provenance: The Estate of George "Yorgo" Demetrakopoulos; professor, assistant director of the Medieval Institute, and assistant to the dean at Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, Michigan, from 1965-2000.
Condition: soiling, wear, trimmed margins, lost corner. The signs of aging are appropriate for the time. A detailed condition report is available on demand.
Museums and Libraries: Yale University Art Gallery 1823.2. For oil/canvas portrait by Samuel Finley Breese Morse.
Art Movements, Periods & Schools: American School XIX C.
Note: This entry incorporates text from Wikipedia, WikiTree and the catalog entry of a similar item from the Yale University Art Gallery collection.
- Sheldon Clark (1785 - 1840), a very eccentric old bachelor, who lived alone in the gloomy old mansion, never caring for company, his only companions being a mongrel dog, a few chickens and some cows. His only ambition was to accumulate money, and by being penurious he accumulated quite a fortune. when he realized that his earthly pilgrimage was drawing to an end he made a will giving all his earthly belongings to Yale College. Not long after this, as he was looking for eggs in the barn, he fell from the scaffold and broke his neck. He was buried in Pinesbridge cemetery. A small slab marks his resting place with simply the name, Sheldon Clark upon it. Some one visiting the cemetery wrote on the stone, "Here lies a man who had no wife. In search of eggs he lost his life." B. H. Davis, Reminiscences of Oxford Homes and People (Seymour Record - 1913), Chapter 2. (WikiTree).