Posthumous Portraiture
Painted by Theodore Gegoux       This webpage catalogues examples of Gegoux's "posthumous portraiture", which flourished in the middle third of the 19th century.  Most of these paintings are believed to have been drawn from the corpse and they expressed "the desire for the restoration of the dead through art" (P. Lloyd - 1980).  Gegoux was well known for this type of portraiture.  Many are the examples contained here at this webpage, with many more yet to be uncovered in the North Country of New York.

Examples of Gegoux's Posthumous Portraiture
	Portrait of Eunice Strong Griswold - 1880, Adams Crayon on paper - Location of original not known - Click through to read story.
	Portrait of Marion Estelle Cooper - 1882, Watertown Oil on canvas - Jefferson County Historical Society - Click through to read story.
	Portrait of Mrs. C. F. Myers - 1883, Watertown Crayon on paper - Location of original not known - Click through to read story.
	Portrait of Mary Elizabeth Barron - 1889, Watertown Pastel on Paper - Jefferson County Historical Society - Click through to read story.
	Hartwell Fletcher Bent (1837-1884), a doublet - 1894 Oil on Canvas - private collection - Click through to read story.
	Bertha Powell - 1895, Point Vivian (3 Mile Bay) Crayon on paper - Private collection - Click through to read story.
	The Portrait of Aunt Molly, a doublet - 1895 Pastel on paper - Private collection - Click through to read story.
	The Portrait of Baby - 1905 Oil on Canvas - Jefferson County Historical Society - A haunting image, which while not known for certain to be a posthumous portrait, shows the classic characteristics of such a portrait.
	The Duck Hunter (Milo Cleveland) - 1907 Oil on canvas - Jefferson County Historical Society - Commissioned by Milo's wife after his death and composed the way she wanted to remember him - Click through to read story.
	The Portrait of Captain Henry Gegoux - 1909, Cleveland Location of original not known - reportedly Gegoux traveled to Cleveland in December of 1909 to paint the portrait of his nephew who died unexpectedly of peritonitis.  It would not be a surprise if Gegoux actual executed this portrait, but he would not have needed to travel to Cleveland nearly a year after Henry's death to accomplish this work.  The corpse would not have been available at that time and Gegoux could easily have worked from memory or a photo.  In any event the portrait has never been located and could have been either in the estate of Henry's only child, Roland Gegoux , who died in Sun City, Arizona in 1986 or it could have remained with the family of Henry's wife in Cleveland.
	Adolph Jette - 1917, Champoeg Oil on canvas - Private Collection - The Jette family of St. Paul, Oregon have stated that Gegoux painted this portrait from a photo of the corpse in the coffin.  Gegoux reportedly took several years off of the subjects apparent age at the request of the family.