Theodore Clement Steele, Portrait of Colonel Isaac Elston II, 1907, oil and canvas.

This 1907 portrait of Colonel Isaac Elston II, son of General Elston, depicts a formal and mature work from later in T.C Steele’s life. While Steele has become known for his landscape art, early on he was only praised for his portraiture. Steele traveled to Crawfordsville for this specific piece even though he was not in the best of health at the time. However, Steele’s wanted to “be through with this piece” due to his respect for Crawfordsville and Wabash College.

After briefly studying painting in Chicago and Cincinnati, Steele began to commission portraits and teach art to pursue a career. However, it was a struggle for Steele to make it. In his first journals he reveals his “systematic devotion” to becoming a professional painter, even though he was fully aware of the great challenges he would face.

Steele’s portrait career encountered a jump-start when he won a gold metal at the Indiana Exposition in Indianapolis in 1874 for two oil portraits. This led him to be recognized in Indiana and was invited to do many portraits the following year. This is what eventually opened the doors to him for further education in Germany.  

Click the links below for more information about this painting and artist:

• Steele’s Early Life and Education
• Steele’s Aspirations to Train in Germany
• Steele’s Relationship with Colonel Elston II

Bibliography

Ethan Farmer

Audio of Letter by T. C. Steele in which he talks about his reasons for studying in Germany, from The House of the Singing Winds by Thelma Steele: