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Portrait of John McKnight

Portrait of John McKnight

Artist: Gennarino (Gennaro) Persico (American (born in Italy), 1800 - 1859)

Date: c. 1823
Medium: charcoal on heavy paper
Dimensions:
Sheet: 22 x 20 3/8 in. (55.9 x 51.8 cm)
Credit Line:Gift, Dorothy York
Object number: 1950.74.1

This impressive finished drawing depicts John McKnight, Reading banker and Persico’s father-in-law. The work was executed the same year of the marriage of Gennarino to Elizabeth McKnight Kennedy.

The work, which although is much larger in scale, maintains the miniature’s oval format, is signed faintly above the sitter’s shoulder, and is the earliest work by a Berks County artist in The Museum’s collection.

In Collection(s)