History:The style of this portrait, previously unattributed, has been compared to other Benbridge work by the curators of the Tennessee State Museum and found to be very similar to other works by Benbridge. It shows Robertson facing the viewer's left, with his left arm resting on a rock and a wagon pulled by two oxen and two pioneers over the subject's right shoulder.
Notes:James Robertson (1742-1814) is considered the Father of Middle Tennessee. He led the first large group of white men overland with stock and animals while their women and children travelled on John Donelson's flotilla down the Tennessee River to begin a settlement which grew into Nashville. He was appointed by George Washington as Brig. General in command of Mero District (1791). He served as the U.S. Agent to Chickasaw & Choctaw Nations, 1804. He died at a site near present-day Memphis in 1814. His body was moved in the 1820's back to Nashville and his body lies in the Nashville City Cemetery among many markers and monuments erected in his honor.
