26 Portraits of Notable Peacemakers

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Desiderius Erasmus [1466-1536]
1523 - "Portrait of Desiderius Erasmus of Rotterdam with Renaissance Pilaster," National Gallery, London (England). Oil & tempera on panel, 76 × 51 cm. On loan from Longford Castle. By German painter Hans Holbein the Younger [c1498-1543]. "In 1523, Holbein painted his first portraits of the great Renaissance scholar Desiderius Erasmus [1466-1536], who required likenesses to send to his admirers throughout Europe. These paintings made Holbein an international artist."
1523 - "Porträt des Erasmus von Rotterdam am Schreibpult," Musée du Louvre, Paris (France). By German painter Hans Holbein the Younger [c1498-1543].

George Fox [1624-1691]

Date? - Painting of George Fox, Swarthmore College, Swarthmore, Pennsylvania (USA). "The authenticity of this picture, reputedly by Peter Lely, is questioned, together with all other supposed portraits of George Fox."

William Penn [1644-1718]

1832 - Portrait of William Penn, National Portrait Gallery, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (USA). By Henry Inman [1801-1846].

Joseph Boulogne, Chevalier de Saint-George [1745-1799]
Date? - An important French-Caribbean figure in the Paris musical scene in the second half of the 18th century as composer, conductor & violinist. Prior to the French Revolution, he was also famous as a swordsman & equestrian. Known as the "black Mozart," he was one of the earliest musicians of the European classical type known to have African ancestry... He was, by his social position, and by his political involvement, a figurehead of the emancipation of slaves."

William Wilburforce [1759-1833]
1828 - Unfinished portrait by Sir Thomas Lawrence. Where is it today?

Robert Owen [1771-1858]
Date? - Portrait of Robert Owen.

Sojourner Truth [c.1779-1883]

c.1870 - Portrait of Sojourner Truth. An albumen silver print by Randall Studios.

Frances Wright [1795-1852]
1824 - Portrait of Frances Wright. By Henry Inman [1801-1846].

Elizabeth Cady Stanton [1815-1902]

c.1880 - Portrait of Elizabeth Cady Stanton.

Frederick Douglass [1818-1895]

Date? - Photograph of Frederick Douglass. Who made this slide, and is it on display anywhere?

Susan B. Anthony [1820-1906]

February 15, 1870 - Portrait of Susan B. Anthony on her 50th birthday.

Hodgson Pratt [1824-1907]
1891 - Portrait of Hodgson Pratt, National Portrait Gallery, London (England). By Felix Moscheles [1833–1917]. Pacifist Hodgson Pratt [1824-1907] worked 14 years for the East India Company & the Bengal government, then returned to England in 1861. He founded the International Arbitration & Peace Association (IAPA) in London (England) in 1880, then visited a number of European cities as IAPA representative, such as Berlin, Frankfurt, Paris, Copenhagen, Stockholm, Budapest, Milan and Rome. In 1883, he was with Henri La Fontaine [1854-1943], the impetus for the Belgian Society for mediation and peace to found [sic]. Together with Franz Napian Wirth [1826-1897] he founded in 1886 Frankfurt Peace Society. ("Bertha von Suttner learned about the IAPA in 1887, promptly joined, became its leading spokesperson.") Pratt was nominated in 1906 for the Nobel Peace Prize, but it went instead to US President Theodore Roosevelt.

Henry Dunant [1828-1910]

1903 - Portrait of Henry Dunant, Headquarters, Nederlandse Rode Kruis / Dutch Red Cross, Leeghwaterplein 27, The Hague (Netherlands). By Dutch painter Jan ten Kate [1850-1929]. Henry Dunant [1828-1910] was founder of the Red Cross & receipient of the first Nobel Peace Prize (1901). /// From Arthur Eyffinger (1999): "Actually one of two portraits of the Red Cross pioneer produced by Ten Kate who maintained a corespondence with Dunant at his resort [in Heiden, Switzerland]." /// Email from Peter van den Dungen 03Nov13 after visiting Geneva, "The painting of Dunant by Jan ten Kate is not in the ICRC in Geneva but in the headquarters of the Dutch Red Cross in The Hague. I will be there next week, and will follow up." /// Image shows one of the most common pictures of Dunant. Not sure if this image was made from the portrait by ten Kate.

Alfred Nobel [1833-1896]
Date? - Portrait of Alfred Nobel. "This is one of the few portraits of Alfred Nobel, as he thought his visage unattractive." Where is the original of this portrait?

King Edward VII [1841-1910]
Date? - Where is this portrait, and who is its artist?

Bertha von Suttner [1843-1914]
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2007 - Portrait of Baroness Bertha von Suttner, Vienna (Austria).

Emanuel Nobel [1859-1932]
1881 - Portrait of Emanuel Nobel [1859-1932] by Raussian painter Valentin Serov [1865-1911]. Emanuel Nobel was a Swedish-Russian oil baron, the eldest son of Ludvig Nobel & his first wife, Mina Ahlsell, grandson of Immanuel Nobel & nephew of Alfred Nobel. Where is this portrait?

Jane Addams [1860-1935]
Date? - Portrait of Jane Addams, Hull House, Chicago, Illinois (USA). Artist?

Mahatma Gandhi [1869-1948]

Date? - Portrait of Mahatma Gandhi, Gandhi Memorial Center, 4748 Western Avenue, Bethesda, Maryland (USA). By Mildred Van Leer.

Ralph Vaughan Williams [1872-1958]
1944 - "Dona Nobis Pacem (Ralph Vaughan Williams)," Flether Trust Collection, Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, Wellington (New Zealand). Oil on canvas, 786 x 680 mm. "Rita Angus [1908-1970] admired the English composer Ralph Vaughan Williams [1872-1958], who taught her close friend Douglas Lilburn [1915-2001] in London in the late 1930s. Vaughan Williams was a well-known pacifist and composed the cantata Dona Nobis Pacem (Grant us peace) in 1936. Angus includes scenes from her own life. The apple branch symbolises the pacifist community at Riverside, where she may have had the idea for the painting. She sketched the deserted homestead at nearby Pangatotara. The blonde child on the beach might be Angus herself as a girl."

Albert Schweitzer [1875-1965]
1965 - Portrait of Albert Schweitzer, where? By E.V. Fulpen? Where is this portrait?

Jeannette Rankin [1880-1973]

2004 - Portrait of Jeannette Rankin, House of Representatives, Washington, DC (USA). By Sharon Sprung. Jeannette Rankin [1880-1973] was "the first woman to hold national office in the USA when she was elected to the House of Representatives in 1916 by the state of Montana as a member of the Republican Party. She won a second House term 24 years later, in 1940. Each of Rankin's Congressional terms coincided with initiation of US military intervention in each of the World Wars. A lifelong pacifist, she was one of 50 House members (total of 56 in both chambers) who opposed the war declaration of 1917, and the only member of Congress to vote against declaring war on Japan after the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941."

Dorothy Day [1897-1980]

Date? - Portrait of Dorothy Day. By Sally K. Green. Where is this portrait today?

Sir Joseph Rotblat [1908-2005]
Date? - Portrait of Sir Joseph Rotblat, Los Alamos Study Group? (LASG), Albuquerque, New Mexico (USA). Who drew this portrait, and who combined it into a poster?

Mother Teresa [1910-1997]

September 4, 2016 - Portrait of Mother Teresa (Vatican City). "Charlotte [North Carolina] artist Chas Fagan had only four months to paint what will be the official portrait of Mother Teresa for her sainthood ceremony Sunday [September 4, 2016] in Rome [sic]... When the Roman Catholic Church officially canonizes Mother Teresa, Pope Francis & an estimated crowd of 1 million pilgrims in St. Peter’s Square will gaze on Fagan’s rendering..." Mother Teresa "founded the Missionaries of Charity, a Roman Catholic religious congregation which had over 4,500 sisters & was active in 133 countries."

Nelson Mandela [1918-2013]
2002 - Portrait of Nelson Mandela, Christie's, London (England). "Oil on canvas, 20 by 24 inches, unframed, 36 3/8 by 40 ½ inches, framed. Signed by Nelson Mandela on reverse. Painted by "Royal Portrait Painter" Richard Stone, from sittings at the offices of the Nelson Mandela Foundation, Johannesburg, February 2008. Mr. Stone was personally invited to paint this portrait by Mr. Mandela and has donated his services to this project. To be auctioned by Christie’s London on 25th June, 2008, as part of Mr. Mandela’s 90th Birthday Celebrations."

Martin Luther King., Jr. [1929-1968]
1974 - Portrait of Martin Luther King, Jr., Georgia State Capitol, Altanta, Georgia (USA). "This portrait, painted by George Mandus [1924-2012], hung outside the governor's office on the main floor of the capitol until a new and larger portrait of King replaced the 1974 portrait in 2006. After its replacement, the 1974 portrait was placed in storage at the Georgia State Archives."
Date? - Portrait of Martin Luther King, Jr., Georgia State Capitol, Altanta, Georgia (USA). "This new portrait replaced a smaller painting of King hung outside the governor's office in 1974. The new portrait, 50 percent larger than the previous one, was created because the 1974 portrait of King was dwarfed by the larger portraits of governors that hung around it."

Desmond Tutu [1931-Alive]
2002 - Portrait of Desmond Tutu, where? Painted by "Royal Portrait Painter" Richard Stone. "Whilst Archbishop Tutu agreed in principle to the portrait, he was initially reluctant to actually sit for it, although he said I was welcome to observe him in his office in Milnerton, Cape Town, sketching him while he was at work. Gradually he became accustomed to my presence and began to engage me in conversation. After this unpromising start I finally persuaded him to leave his paperwork and sit in front of me, so that I could paint some proper studies. After a week of work, & some retouching back in the studio in England, this portrait emerged. I was then invited back to Cape Town & the portrait was unveiled by the Archbishop, amidst considerable interest from the press... Proceeds from the sale of the picture will be distributed between Nyumbani, an orphanage for HIV positive & AIDS children in Nairobi, & The Love of Christ Ministries, a Johannesburg-based charity for newborn & abandoned babies."

Dalai Lama [1935-Alive]
2009 - Portrait of the Dalai Lama (India?). The 14th Dalai Lama. No information about this portrait.

John Lewis [1940-Alive]

2009 - Portrait of John Lewis, Birmingham Civil Rights Institute, Birmingham, Alabama (USA). By David M. Rothman. John Lewis [b.1940] is US Representative for Georgia's 5th congressional district, serving since 1987. As chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), he was one of the 'Big Six' leaders of groups who organized the 1963 March on Washington & played many key roles in the Civil Rights Movement.


August 19, 2013 - "Dunbar Alumni and Faculty on US Postage Stamps," Paul Laurence Dunbar High School, Washington, DC (USA). "Giant posters of all 8 have been placed on a wall of the media center, where their visages can serve to inspire incoming Dunbar students... There are also 118 plaques placed around the school honoring various alumni for achievements ranging from being the 1st elected US Senator [sic] to starring as an all-pro NFL tight end... It's a historic week for historic Dunbar High School. The school, recognized during the 1st half of the 20th Century as the finest African-American high school in America, is celebrating its new $122 million facility with 5 days of special events..." /// Who are the eight? Four of them must be Carter G. Woodson (historian), W. Allison Davis (anthropologist), Charles R. Drew (surgeon) & Anna Julia Cooper (scholar). Also Charles Hamilton Houston (Dean of Howard University School of Law) & Mary Church Terrell (civil rights/suffrage activist)?

Benjamin Joseph Salmon [1888–1932]

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November 1, 2017 - Grave of Conscientious Objector Ben Salmon, Mount Carmel Cemetery, Hillside (near Chicago), Illinois (USA). "The Friends of Franz [Jägerstätter] & Ben [Salmon] collected donations to have the stone placed on Ben's unmarked grave. On All Saints Day 2017, his grave was marked with the stone shown [here]...inscribed "There is no such thing as a just war." /// Benjamin Joseph Salmon [1888–1932] was an American Christian pacifist, Roman Catholic, conscientious objector & outspoken critic of just war theory, who believed no war could be morally justified." Information courtesy of Gerard Lössbroek.