Francis, John Brown (1791 - 1864)
Role: Chancellor, TrusteeDates: 1851 - 1854, 1828 - 1857
Portrait Location: University Hall 312
Artist: Arnold, John Nelson (1834 - 1909)
Portrait Date: 1881
Medium: Oil on canvas
Dimensions: 33 1/2"w x 43 1/2"h
Framed Dimensions: 51"w x 60 1/2"h
Brown Portrait Number: 39
Brown Historical Property Number: 1299
John Brown Francis was born in Philadelphia to John Francis, son of merchant Tench Francis, and Abby Brown Francis, daughter of Providence merchant John Brown. Young Francis grew up in Providence, and as his father died when he was only five years old, he developed a close relationship with his grandfather John Brown. When Brown died in 1803, he left strict instructions regarding his grandson's education. Francis entered Brown University a year later at the age of fourteen and graduated in 1808. Brown spent most of his life as a country lawyer, living at Spring Green, the Warwick estate owned by his grandfather. He represented Warwick in the General Assembly and State Senate. In 1833 he was elected governor of Rhode Island and was re-elected annually through 1838. Francis also served in the United States Senate. His August 1864 obituary in the Providence Journal read, "Faithful in every office that he filled, irresistibly attractive through the general frankness, warmth, and heartiness of his generous nature, a gentleman in the fullest?" He served his alma mater as a trustee from 1828 to 1857 and as chancellor of the university from 1851 to 1854.
This painting is a copy by artist John Nelson Arnold of an original portrait by George P. A. Healy (1813 ? 1904). Commissioned by Francis's daughter, Anne Brown Francis Woods in 1881, it was given to Brown University that year for display in the newly built Sayles Hall. Arnold was a Providence portrait artist who painted several Rhode Island governors and other distinguished people. Healy's original portrait was painted at the family home on Waterman Street in 1859.