Samuel Gardiner Wright

Period1818 (?)

MediumPastel on paper

Dimensions24.25 × 19.5 in. (61.6 × 49.5 cm)

ClassificationsPortraits

Credit LineMuseum Purchase with Funds from Edward N. King, Jr., 2012

Object number2012.14.1

DescriptionThree quarter view of a middle age male facing left, with a full face, brown eyes, high forehead, receded hair line, and brown hair combed back. He wears a very dark blue or black coat with wide lapels, white waistcoat, white shirt, and a white bow tied under his chin. The background fades from rose pink below to mottled blue above.
Curatorial RemarksThe date 1818 was determined from a partial inscription on the reverse of the portrait that ended in the number "8." That is consistent with James Martin's working dates in the New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut area of ca. 1794 to 1820.NotesSamuel Gardiner Wright (1781 - 1845) was born in Burlington County, a son of Caleb E. Wright and Catherine Gardiner. In 1805, he married Sarah Wright (1786 - 1885), a daughter of Robert Wright and a distant cousin. They became the parents of three sons and a daughter. Sarah inherited the property in Upper Freehold Township, Monmouth County, on which a large new three-story brick mansion house was built between 1809 and 1811. The estate was then named Merino Hill after Wright acquired a flock of merino sheep. Samuel G. Wright was a Philadelphia merchant who lived on Front Street. Merino Hill was developed as a summer residence and as a working farm where he could indulge in his interests in agriculture. Wright also invested heavily in iron furnaces in Delaware and New Jersey. His principal property was a 26,000-acre tract near Lakehurst, Ocean County, which included a defunct operation he reactivated in 1826 and named it Dover Furnace. Wright served as ironmaster there for seven years. In politics, Wright was a friend of Henry Clay and in October 1844 was elected as a New Jersey Representative to the United States Congress from the Whig party. Unfortunately, he died in July of 1845 before taking office. Wright was interred in the yard of the East Branch Friends Meeting adjacent to Merino Hill.

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