Title: John Burgum
Object Name: Painting
Object ID: 1946.018.01
Creator: Burgum, John (1826-1907)Artist
Place of Origin: Concord, NH
Date: 1880-1900
Description: Self portrait of John Burgum (1826-1907), 1880-1900. Oil on canvas. Bust length portrait of a man, facing slightly left. Sitter has gray hair brushed back, gray beard, and brown eyes. Wearing a dark blue coat buttoned high, white turnover collar, and black bow tie. Light brown background. Signed in red paint, lower right: "J. BURGUM". Old NHHS accession label on stretcher reverse. Gilded gesso over molded wood frame.
Material: Textile
Canvas
Wood
Dimensions: H-20 W-16 inches
Provenance: Deposited at the New Hampshire Historical Society by Edwin Berry Burgum (1894-1979), son of Edwin Gannell Burgum (1858-1948), and grandson of John Burgum (1826-1907) and Emma Gannell (1826-1923), the adopted daughter of Countess Rumford.
John Burgum was a coach painter and worked for the Abbot-Downing Company for over 50 years. He was born on May 14, 1826 in Birmingham, England. He was apprenticed to Christopher Wright, a clock dial painter. In 1850, he came to Boston where he found employment painting coaches. In that same year he was asked to come to Concord, NH, to work for the Abbot-Downing Company, where he spent the remainder of his life. For 25 years he painted designs on coaches and wagons. After working in Manchester for several years decorating steam engines for the Amoskeag Company, he returned to the Abbot-Downing Company, decorating vehicles when there was work to be done, undertaking other painting and decorating commissions, and trying other business ventures. He sold packing for valves in machinery, tried to sell diamonds, and invented Burgum's Family Bread Cutting Machine. He died in Concord on April 16, 1907.
Credit Line: The Edwin G. Burgum Collection
People:
Burgum, John (1826-1907),
Rumford, Emma (1826-1923),
Rumford, Countess
Subjects:
Artists,
Burgum, John,
Portrait paintings,
Portraits,
Self-portraits