Images(2)

Portrait of Felix Brunot

Object number2022.82.1 a,b

Artist Unknown

Framed by John Jones Gillespie (1815 - 1886)

Datec. 1846

MediumOil on canvas; Brass; Metal; Wood; Compo; Gesso; Gold leaf; Paper; Foamcore

Credit LineIn memory of Martha Snowden North

DescriptionFramed oil painting on canvas. Oval format. Bust portrait of man in three-quarter-view facing slightly proper left with gaze directly at the viewer. Subject has dark brown-black hair, blue-gray eyes, a light complexion, and a slight smile. Subject wears a black suit and necktie with white collared shirt with collar turned up; shoulders and torso are wrapped in a burgundy fabric. Dark brown background. Canvas is mounted on a wooden strainer with brass nails. Ornate gilt wooden frame with scalloped inner band, floral outer band, and perimeter of carved openwork including flowers, leaves, and curvilinear forms. Painting has white Foamcore backing board and frame's reverse has two d-rings.DimensionsHeight x Width x Depth (a-b Framed): 42.5 x 37.25 x 4.125 in. (108 x 94.6 x 10.5 cm)
Height x Width (a - Sight size): 28.375 x 23.5 in. (72.1 x 59.7 cm)
Height x Width x Depth (a - painting only): 29.875 x 25.25 x 1.25 in. (75.9 x 64.1 x 3.2 cm)
Height x Width x Depth (b - frame only): 42.5 x 37.25 x 3.5 in. (108 x 94.6 x 8.9 cm)
Marks(a)
Reverse of stretcher has the following handwritten text:
At 10:00: "10-24/10 / [illegibe]";
At 2:00: "Richards";
At top of vertical crossbar: "Mrs. Hoag / #";
On horizontal crossbar: "[illegible]".

Reverse of canvas has text in the viewer's top left quadrant "F.R.B / March 1854 / [illegible]".

Historical NotesFelix Reville Brunot was the first born child of Hilary and Ann Brunot and was born in Newport Barracks, Kentucky. At the age of fourteen, after attending Western University in Allegheny, he enrolled at Jefferson College in Canonsburg, Pennsylvania. Upon graduation, he was employed as a civil engineer. Felix moved to Rock Island, Illinois and operated a flour mill in Camden, Illinois from 1842 to 1847. In 1846, he married Mary Ann Hogg. The couple returned to Pittsburgh in 1847 where Felix co-founded the Singer, Nimick and Co. steelworks. Felix was a director, and later president, of the Allegheny Valley Railway in the 1850s and 1860s. Felix Brunot twice refused a military commission to serve in the Civil War and instead chose to arrange and lead volunteer teams to aid wounded soldiers. In 1862, he was captured by the Confederate Army and was a prisoner at Libby Prison in Richmond Virginia for three months. He returned to Pittsburgh in time to serve as the Chairman of the Pittsburgh Sanitary Fair which was held in 1864. In 1868, President Johnson named Brunot the chairman of the United States Bureau of Indian Affairs. Brunot spent four summers, over the six years that the Bureau was active, visiting Native Americans and Indian agencies throughout the western territories to provide the federal government with recommendations on the treatment of the Native American peoples. Felix Brunot's philanthropic activities established him as one of prominent donors to many institutions in the city. In 1848, he co-founded the Young Men's Mercantile Library Association which operated a commercial library which was open to men at a nominal fee. The Association sponsored courses and lectures and through Brunot's efforts, built a permanent home in 1870. Brunot was a director of several organizations including: Allegheny Cemetery Association, Western Pennsylvania Hospital, Allegheny General Hospital and the Western University of Pennsylvania, and the Historical Society of Western Pennsylvania. Mary Ann Hogg Brunot was the daughter of George and Mary Ann Breading Hogg of Brownsville, Pennsylvania. In 1846 she married Felix Brunot. She was active in many charitable activities including serving on the board of the Young Women's Boarding Home, the Colored Children's Home, the Pittsburgh and Allegheny Women's Christian Association and the Allegheny Tract Society. When she died in 1899, the estate of Mrs. Brunot left various charities $225,000.

Related person Felix Reville Brunot (1820 - 1898)

Related person Mary Hogg Brunot (1822 - 1899)

Related institution Western University

Related institution Jefferson College

Related institution Singer, Nimick and Company

Related institution Allegheny Valley Railway

Related institution United States Bureau of Indian Affairs

Related institution Western Pennsylvania Hospital

Related institution Allegheny General Hospital

Related institution Senator John Heinz History Center

Related institution Young Men's Mercantile Library Association

Related institution Allegheny Cemetery Association