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Benjamin Tappan, 1773-1857
Benjamin Tappan was a multifaceted, larger-than-life antebellum figure. Trained as a lawyer in New England, he soon moved west to Ohio. In 1838 he was elected to the Senate. His portrait was probably painted when Boston-based miniaturist Washington Blanchard was in Virginia in 1839; the image was engraved by 1840. Rectangular cases like this one, used for painted miniatures at this time, began to be utilized for daguerreotypes in the 1840s.
Washington Blanchard, c 1839 |