Philip Philbin wielded the Armed Services Committee Chairman’s gavel for just four days, one of the shortest tenures in the House’s history. Following his retirement, he returned to his home outside Boston, where fellow Massachusetts resident Emily Burling Waite began this portrait. Waite was better known for her etchings and watercolors, but showed no reluctance to employ thickly-applied paint in this oil painting. Waite finished the painting after Philbin’s death, placing him before a red-and-blue background, with his hand resting on a pair of law books.
History, Art & Archives, U.S. House of Representatives, “Philip Joseph Philbin,” https://history.house.gov/Collection/Listing/2002/2002-007-010/ (January 21, 2019)
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