Portrait of John Meredith Read, Oil on Canvas, framed

1815. 25 inches x 20 inches. 25 inches x 20 inches. Fine Portrait of Chief Justice Read, The Great Nineteenth-Century Pennsylvania Jurist [American School, 19th Century]. [Portrait of John Meredith Read]. Philadelphia, c.1815. Image size 25" x 20" (63.5 x 50.8 cm). Oil on canvas in ornate nineteenth-century gilded wood frame. Some minor nicks and chips to frame, gilding slightly dulled, otherwise fine. $3,000. * Read [1797-1874] was elected to the Pennsylvania House of Representatives in 1822 and 1823 and served as City Solicitor of Philadelphia from 1830 to 1833. He was appointed District Attorney of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania in 1837 and held the office until 1845. Read became Justice of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania in 1858 and Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania in 1872. Read gained an international reputation for the depth of his knowledge, eloquence, and masterly arguments in the courtroom. Active in politics, Read was an early supporter and organizer of the Republican Party. This portrait belonged to the Philadelphia Bar Association. Founded in 1802, it is the oldest association of lawyers in the United States. Its library, where this portrait was last displayed, was renamed the Theodore F. Jenkins Memorial Law Library in 1967.