Charles Apthorp

About the Artwork

Called “the greatest merchant on this Continent” in his obituary, Apthorp helped transform Boston into one of the key commercial centers in the American colonies. When the fashionable painter Robert Feke came to town, Apthorp commissioned this elegantly tailored and confidently posed likeness of himself. The sailing ship in the distant background symbolizes Apthorp’s deep financial interests in the Atlantic trade, which included not only textiles, wine, and guns, but also enslaved people. In fact, the slave trade and its attendant commerce comprised a significant portion of colonial Boston’s economy until the decades after the Revolutionary War, when anti-slavery attitudes in New England gained momentum.

Inscriptions

Signed lower right: R F P/174[8]

Provenance

Family of the sitter; To Sarah Apthorp Cunningham Bond, Cambridge, MA (d. 1914); To her son William Cranch Bond, Malden, MA; Thomas B. Clarke, New York ; The Brook Club, New York.

Exhibition history

The Twentieth Anniversary Exhibition: The Official Art Exhibit of the Great Lakes Exposition. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (June 26-October 4, 1936). The Silver Jubilee Exhibition. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (June 23-September 28, 1941). American Portraits. Akron Art Museum, Akron, OH (organizer) (February 23-March 18, 1956). 200th Birthday of the Apthorp Mansion. Fogg Art Museum/Harvard University, Cambridge, MA (organizer) (October 17-November 5, 1960). American Realists. Art Gallery of Hamilton, Hamilton, Canada (organizer) (March 11-April 23, 1961). Paul Revere's Boston, 1735 - 1818. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Boston, MA (organizer) (April 18-October 12, 1975).

Quick Overview

Artist: Robert Feke (American, born The Thirteen Colonies, c. 1707–c. 1752)
Date: 1748
Medium: oil on canvas
Dimensions: Framed: 141.5 x 117.5 x 7.5 cm (55 11/16 x 46 1/4 x 2 15/16 in.); Unframed: 127 x 101.5 cm (50 x 39 15/16 in.)
Type: Painting
Classification: Painting
Department: American Painting and Sculpture
Credit line: Gift of the John Huntington Art and Polytechnic Trust
Accession no.: 1919.1006

Data retrieved from the Cleveland Museum of Art on October 8, 2026. The museum may have updated its record since.