BRICE FAMILY PORTRAITS
BRICE FAMILY PORTRAITS
The Allen County Museum is proud to be home to two important paintings: John Singer Sargent’s portrait of Senator Calvin Brice and the portrait of Brice’s family by Carolus-Duran. The second painting was graciously donated to the Allen County Museum by the Western College Alumnae Association in 2022. The entire project, including renovation to the stairwell, installation of the paintings, and conservation work has been made possible with support from the Ohio Humanities, Nutrien, and from an anonymous donor.
‘Senator Calvin Brice’ was painted by John Singer Sargent in 1898. Sargent, the son of an American doctor, was born in Florence, Italy in 1856 and became the most popular portrait painter of his era.
Charles Auguste Émile Durand, known as Carolus-Duran, was a French painter and art instructor who was born in 1837. Sargent was one of his pupils.
Calvin Stewart Brice was born in Morrow County, Ohio. Brice was the son of Rev. William K. and Elizabeth Stewart Brice. He did his preparatory and undergraduate work at Miami University, Oxford, where he enlisted in the Union Cause. Following his time in college and military service, he returned to Lima, where his family had moved. Brice then pursued graduate work at the law school of the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, and was admitted to the bar. He practiced in Lima but was not overly successful until he expanded his view to include the legal problems of the railroads. He first worked with the Lake Erie & Western Railroad and then became involved in the development of the Nickel Plate Road. Overall, he helped organize eleven railroads during his career. He was a delegate from Ohio at the 1888 Democratic National Convention, and the following year Brice was elected Chairman of the Democratic National Committee. In 1890, he was elected Senator from Ohio and served from 1891 through 1897. At the time of his death in 1898, he was beginning to launch a Chinese railroad.
