By Kate Hill
Staff Writer
Cazenovia’s namesake, Théophile or Theophilus Cazenove (1740-1811), was a Dutch financier and an American agent for the Holland Land Company.
A 1795 portrait of Cazenove, painted by Swedish artist Adolf Ulrik Wertmüller, is currently for sale at Ben Elwes Fine Art, a gallery in London.
A photographic reproduction of the painting can be found in the Cazenovia Public Library.
News of the sale was brought to the attention of Cazenovia art consultant Jonathan Holstein, a member of the Cazenovia Public Library Museum Committee, earlier this fall by Andrew Weislogel, curator of Earlier European and American Art at the Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art at Cornell University.
According to Holstein, Rachel Elwes, director of Ben Elwes Fine Art, contacted Weislogel about the portrait based on her knowledge of Ithaca’s general proximity to Cazenovia.
In her correspondence with Weislogel — which was forwarded to Holstein along with a photo of the portrait — Elwes explained that the painting descended in the Cazenove family for many generations and now resides in Stockholm (in its original French Empire frame), under the ownership of a Swedish collector.
Upon viewing the photograph of the original portrait, Holstein realized that he had seen the image many times before at the library.
In hopes of learning more about the library’s acquisition of the image, Holstein reached out to fellow museum committee member Russ Grills, who previously served as the Lorenzo State Historic Site director and the Town of Cazenovia historian.
Grills recalled that the photograph of the portrait of Cazenove had been gifted to the library in 1993 during the bicentennial of the founding of the village.
Reynaud Cazenove, the senior member of the French branch of the Cazenove family, presented the image in person.
“It would be desirable to acquire the London gallery portrait for display at the library or at Lorenzo,” Grills said.
The library is also home to a copy of a 1760s portrait of Cazenove that depicts the village namesake as a young man.
“It was presented to George S Ledyard by Raoul Cazenove in 1884 while Mr. Ledyard was on a great tour of Europe,” Grills said. “[And] Ledyard presented it to the Cazenovia Public Library.”
Born in Stockholm, Wertmüller (1751-1811) studied painting in Sweden and Paris.
After painting throughout Europe, the artist arrived in the United States in 1794 and settled in Philadelphia, where he produced a number of portraits, including that of Cazenove and several of George Washington.
According to “American Paintings in the Metropolitan Museum of Art,” Washington is believed to have sat for the artist in the Senate Chamber in Aug. 1794.
The original portrait — which is now owned by the Philadelphia Museum of Art — was completed Nov. 8 and was used to paint a number of copies.
According to Wertmüller’s account book, Cazenove paid 406 livres for a 1795 copy of Washington’s portrait, which is now owned by the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
That same year, during his 1790-1799 stay in Philadelphia, Cazenove sat for his own portrait.
“This is probably the most interesting portrait of Cazenove for us because it was painted by a noted European artist when Cazenove was in Philadelphia in the 1790s — the period when he was investing in land in our area for his clients,” Holstein said.
The current asking price for the painting — which is signed and dated “A. Wertmüller, S. Pt. / Philadelphia 1795” — is $40,000.
To learn more about Ben Elwes Fine Art, visit benelwes.co.uk.
