Thomas S. Renshaw and John Barnhart
Settee
1813-1814
Scroll
Physical Qualities
Painted maple, tulip poplar, walnut; painted a putty color with polychrome and gilt and bronze decoration; replacement cane seat, 35 3/8 x 75 7/8 x 23 3/8 in. (89.9 x 192.7 x 59.4 cm.)
Credit Line
Purchased as the gift of Robert G. Merrick, Mrs. D'Arcy Paul, J. Gilman D'Arcy Paul, Mrs. Alvin Thalheimer, and Mrs. Miles White, Jr.
Object Number
1950.51
A bold inscription on the back of this settee celebrates the collaboration between Thomas Renshaw, a maker of “fancy” furniture who transferred his business from Washington to Baltimore early in the 19th century, and John Barnhart, who had started his Baltimore career as a sign painter by 1799. Barnhart is known to have worked with Renshaw in 1814 – 1815. The precise location of their shop on Gay Street, Baltimore, is recorded on the back of the settee, but the four picturesque scenes decorating the crest rail are generic images probably based on print sources.
The Baltimore Museum of Art, by purchase, 1950; Mrs. Rush Sturges, Providence, Rhode Island, by 1950.
AMW Reinstallation 2014
American Wing Rotations 2020
Elder, William Voss. Baltimore Painted Furniture, 1800-1840. Baltimore, MD: Baltimore Museum of Art, 1972, cat. no. 19, pages 42-43.
Elder III, William Voss and Jayne E. Stokes. American Furniture 1680-1880: From the Collection of the Baltimore Museum of Art. Baltimore: Museum of Art, 1987, p.61-61, ill. 41.
Priddy, Sumpter. American Fancy: Exuberance in the Arts 1790-1840. Milwaukee: Chipstone Foundation, 2004, p.53.
Markings: Printed in black letters across the stay rails of the two center backs: THO^sS RENSHAW N^o 37. S^t Gay S^t Balt^e John Barnhart Ornamenter
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