United States House of Representatives: History, Art, & Archives
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Joseph Wellington Byrns

Portrait painting of Joseph Wellington Byrns, three-quarter length, in a suit and tie, seated in a chair, his right hand holding a cigar and his left hand holding a place in a book, at a desk, with a bookcase and curtains in the background/tiles/collection/2/2902.xml
Portrait painting of Joseph Wellington Byrns, three-quarter length, in a suit and tie, seated in a chair, his right hand holding a cigar and his left hand holding a place in a book, at a desk, with a bookcase and curtains in the background
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Date

1937

Artist

Ella Sophonisba Hergesheimer

Dimensions

Sight: 44 3/4 x 34 3/4 in. (113.7 x 88.3 cm) Framed: 52 1/4 x 42 1/4 in. (132.7 x 107.3 cm)

Accession Number

2005.016.041

Credit Line

Collection of the U.S. House of Representatives

Object Details

Joseph Byrns’ Speaker portrait was acquired by the House of Representatives in 1937. The artist, Sophonisba Hergesheimer, studied at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts with Cecilia Beaux and William Merritt Chase. A portrait commission brought her to Nashville in 1907, in Byrns’ home state of Tennessee, and she remained there for the rest of her life. Known for her still life and landscape paintings as well as her portraits, Hergesheimer was a direct descendant of Charles Willson Peale. Following the Peale family tradition, she was named for a Renaissance painter, in her case, Italian artist Sophonisba Anguissola.

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Office of the Historian: history@mail.house.gov
Office of Art & Archives, Office of the Clerk: art@mail.house.gov, archives@mail.house.gov