Portrait of Judge Abraham Shriver (1771-1848)
Associate Judge of 5th Judicial District, Frederick 1805-1843
Mary Shriver of Frederick, his daughter, (1810-1853)
Attributed to John Beale Bordley (1771-1848)
Frederick County, Maryland
Circa 1845
Oil on Canvas
25” x 30” Stretcher
This compelling portrait is among the best executed by Bordley during his long career. It fully conveys an enormous sense of the subject’s character and personality as well a stark and unembellished visual image of the imposing judge that it almost modern in its cool clarity. The direct, full-frontal perspective set far forward in the picture plane is difficult to achieve and the critical lighting playing across the sitter’s face and attire achieve a level of visual drama that ranks this portrait as among Bordley’s most accomplished and successful commissions.
Abraham Shriver grew up in Union Mills, Maryland, where his family was well established with interests in grist and saw mill, a general store, farming and a tannery. The family was influential politically and Abraham was among the founders of Frederick County’s Democratic Party and a prominent Jacksonian. He served as Associate Judge on the Fifth Judicial District from 1805-1843 and was also a farmer and merchant. Mary whose portrait, also attributed to Bordely, is offered together with her father’s.
John Beale Bordley (1800-1882) was a prolific portrait painter whose career in Maryland spanned more than three decades. The son of Mattias Bordley and Susan Heath Bordley, the artist was born at Wye Island in Talbot County. He first studied law in Philadelphia but seems to have quickly turned to painting as his principal pursuit. The well-known agriculturalist, John Beale Bordley (1727-1804), was the artist’s grandfather and a great friend of Charles Willson Peale’s and it is possible that he received some of his early training with members of the Peale family. He exhibited at the Pennsylvania Academy in 1832, at the National Academy in 1843 and in 1849-1850 at the Maryland Historical Society in Baltimore. Bordley was known to travel and accept commissions throughout Maryland and painted numerous portraits in western Maryland.
