Harvey Mitchell's Way

Portrait of Judge Micajah Davis of Virginia by Harvey Mitchell

Thanks to T. Bowyer Campbell, a relative of Harvey Mitchell (aka Michel), we can have some idea of the Virginia portrait painter's way.* Campbell drew much of his information from two of Mitchell's daughters (Charlotte Mitchell Harvey and Mary Louisa Mitchell/Michel Binckley), a niece ("Mrs. Burwell"), a granddaughter (Nellie Binckley) and two grandnieces. There is mention of two collateral family estates around Liberty/Bedford and Lynchburg, Virginia: Wheatley and Avenel. Many of Harvey Mitchell's paintings were showcased at Avenel, and he may be buried at Wheatley (developed by his brother, Robert Mitchell, 1807-1872).

Charlotte Mitchell Harvey "possessed a miniature of her father as a youth. It shows him tall, slender and debonnair, with blue eyes and chestnut hair . . . Nellie . . . thinks it may have been painted by [Charles Balthazar Julien Févret de Saint-Mémin (1770-1852)]. There is a reproduction of it in the Corcoran Art Gallery in Washington" Charlotte Mitchell Harvey "also possessed a photograph of her father in his latter years, still erect and handsome and wearing a long grey beard" (Campbell, page 4).

Campbell also notes: "From these ladies [dilineated above] I learned that Harvey Mitchell was charming in manner, full of fun and wit, and able to keep a roomful of company spellbound with his jokes and stories. The only time he seems to have had a depressing effect upon the family at Avenel was when he described the horrors sure to accompany the coming of the railroad through the county . . ." (Campbell, page 5).

Finally, Campbell extracts from notes taken in 1880 by one Robert Craighill about Harvey Mitchell: ". . . that he lived a roving life, chiefly about the State [i.e. Commonwealth] of Virginia; that he was always poor but generous to a fault; that he possessed very socialble qualities and was a great ladies'-man; that he was remarkably popular and genial . . . " (Campbell, page 8).

I've come across a brief reference to Harvey Mitchell and family riding around in a small carriage, setting up shop at various places to paint portraits. However, sometime into the marriage with Jane Johnston, Harvey took up teaching and probably tutoring (as did Jane). He also incurred a debt that seems to have led to the breakup of an educational partnership with Edward William Johnston, one of Jane's brothers, and his Haitian-born wife. 

I also acquired a copy of Margaret Cook Cabell's Sketches and Recollections of Lynchburg (Richmond: C.H. Wynne, 1858), a work quoted by Campbell. It provides glimpses into some aspects of the artist's life: "Harvey Mitchell . . . spent his boyhood in the town of Lynchburg . . .When a small boy, Harvey Mitchell manifested a great talent for drawing, painting and taking likenesses . . . He practised his profession of portrait painter, in the town of Lynchburg, for some years, writing manuscript pieces . . . as well as articles for periodicals. . . Mr. Mitchell also wrote dramas, depicting admnirably the foibles of the community in which he lived. In conjunction with Stephen Mitchell, his younger brother, he attempted to publish a periodical . . ." At the time of Cabell's publication, he was (as noted in earlier posts) living "in the city of Washington, where he holds an office under Government" (Cabell, pages 103-105).

*T. Bowyer Campbell, Harvey Mitchell: Virginia Painter (The Bedford Democrat, 1953). This is a ten-page booklet.

Cropped portrait of Judge Micajah Davis (ca. 1813-1898) at top: scan of a photocopy sent by Arielle Doriester, Reference Associate, Frick Art Reference Library, The Frick Collection, New York, NY, February 17, 2012.