Nehemiah Partridge

Nehemiah Partridge (March 9, 1683 – between 1729 and 1737) was a Colonial American painter. He is believed to be the same artist as those identified as the Schuyler Limner and the Aetatis Suae Limner, though this identification has been called into question by some historians.

Partridge was born in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, the son of William Partridge and Mary Brown; his father rose from being a carpenter and merchant to become the colony's lieutenant governor from 1696 to 1703, while in 1705 his sister married Jonathan Belcher, who himself would later become colonial governor. Partridge is known to have been active in Boston as a japanner from 1712 until 1714, during which time he also sold paints; at this time he lived very close to the decorative painter Thomas Child. Advertisements in the local press suggest that he began his painting career at this time, though no works by his hand from the period are known to survive. He was in New York City by 1718, as in that year he was made a freeman of the city, his profession being recorded as limner; in the same year he was recorded as master to an apprentice, James Smith. As with Boston, no paintings are known to survive from this stage of his career, either.

Sometime around 1718 Partridge was introduced into the society of Albany, New York, which had not yet been visited by any painters, and close to fifty portraits of local notables have been attributed to him. How he came to know his patrons is unknown, but it may have been through Boston merchant Jacob Wendell, whose relative Evert was among the more important citizens of the city. Partridge counted among his subjects three future mayors, Robert Livingston the Elder, and Pieter Schuyler; his portrait of the latter, a full-length, is among the earliest such in the colonies. He left Albany in 1721, trying his fortunes in Newport, Rhode Island and Jamestown and Williamsburg, Virginia and leaving behind a trail of portraits before returning to Albany in 1724. The last year he is known to have been active anywhere is 1725; he then returned to Boston, where he died.

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