{"id":166,"date":"2016-05-05T18:52:51","date_gmt":"2016-05-05T18:52:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.wabash.edu\/elstoncollection\/?page_id=166"},"modified":"2016-05-08T14:43:30","modified_gmt":"2016-05-08T14:43:30","slug":"t-c-steele-portrait-of-colonel-elston","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/blog.wabash.edu\/elstoncollection\/art-collection\/t-c-steele-portrait-of-colonel-elston\/","title":{"rendered":"T. C. Steele, Portrait of Colonel Elston"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"TC<\/a>Theodore Clement Steele<\/strong>,\u00a0Portrait of Colonel Isaac Elston II<\/em>, 1907, oil and canvas.<\/span><\/p>\n

This 1907 portrait of Colonel Isaac Elston II, son of General Elston, depicts a formal and mature\u00a0work 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\u2019s wanted to \u201cbe through with this piece\u201d due to his respect for\u00a0Crawfordsville and Wabash College.<\/span><\/p>\n

After briefly studying painting in Chicago and Cincinnati, Steele began to commission portraits and teach art to pursue\u00a0a career. However, it was\u00a0a struggle for Steele to make it.<\/span>\u00a0In his first journals he reveals his \u201csystematic devotion\u201d to becoming a professional painter, even though he was fully aware of the great challenges he would face. <\/span><\/p>\n

Steele\u2019s portrait career encountered a jump-start when he won a gold metal at the Indiana Exposition in Indianapolis in 1874 for two oil portraits.<\/span>\u00a0This 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. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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Click the links below for more information about this\u00a0painting\u00a0and artist:<\/p>\n