Richard Creifelds (1853-1939), American
Portrait of Jonathan Arnold, 1898
OIL ON CANVAS, 27 x 22 inches
Gift of Lemuel Hastings Arnold

Jonathan Arnold is considered the founder of the town of St. Johnsbury, as he obtained its grant from Governor Thomas Chittenden, led one of the first groups of permanent settlers to the town's current site in 1787, and helped establish its institutions, both civic and economic. This depiction of Arnold by New York portraitist Richard Creifelds reproduces, with some embellishment, an eighteenth-century miniature that is believed to have been created during Arnold's participation in the Continental Congress in Philadelphia in 1782—83 as a delegate from Rhode Island, which explains his wig and formal attire.