Jeremiah Theus

Jeremiah Theus ( Theüs; April 5, 1716 – May 17, 1774) was a Swiss-born American painter, primarily of portraits. He was active mainly around Charleston, South Carolina, in which city he remained almost without competition for the bulk of his career.

Life Early life and career Jeremiah Theüs was born in the city of Chur, in the Swiss canton of Graubünden, the eldest child of Simeon and Anna Walser Theüs. He was nineteen when he immigrated with his family to the Province of South Carolina, whose General Assembly had provided land grants and transport funds to encourage European Protestants to settle in the colony. Simeon Theüs was given of land along the Edisto River in what was then Orangeburgh Township, today Orangeburg County.

He established his studio in a central location, the northeast corner of Broad and Meeting Streets. Just what degree of training he received is unknown; given that opportunities to study art were limited in Charleston at the time, however, it seems likely that he had received some training while he was still in Switzerland. thumb Portrait of Suzanna Moore Smyth, 1755. San Antonio Museum of Artthumb Mrs Thomas Lynch, 1755, Reynolda House Museum of American ArtTheus took on a variety of commissions during his early career, including painting and guilding the steeple of St. Michael's Episcopal Church in 1756, a job for which the congregation's commissioners paid him 77 pounds and 10 shillings for his labor and supplies. He also painted the weather vane, and contributed 50 pounds towards the building fund for a new structure; he later owned a pew in the church.

Theus died in Charleston in 1774; his death was noted in at least three local papers, including The South-Carolina and American General Gazette and the South Carolina Gazette, both of which referred to him in their obituary notices as both "ingenious" and "honest". The source of Mrs. Manigault's pose is unknown, but is believed to have been taken from an English mezzotint, as was common at the time. Worcester Art Museum, Telfair Academy of Arts and Sciences, Charleston Museum, Metropolitan Museum of Art, National Gallery of Art, and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

Portrait gallery