Howell, David (1747 - 1824)
Role: First Professor of Rhode Island College (later Brown University)Dates: 1766 - 1824
Portrait Location: Library Annex
Artist: Lincoln, James Sullivan (1811 - 1888)
Portrait Date:
Medium: Oil on canvas
Dimensions: 24 1/2
Framed Dimensions: 35 1/2
Brown Portrait Number: 51
Brown Historical Property Number: 134
David Howell was born in Morristown, New Jersey, and attended the College of New Jersey (later Princeton University), following by two years James Manning, who would become Brown's first president (BP 1, 3). As he was concluding his studies in New Jersey in 1766, Howell received an invitation from Manning to teach at the new College of Rhode Island.
After his graduation Howell studied law and by 1768, was admitted to the bar. That same year he was appointed as Manning's assistant, and a year later was promoted to professor of mathematics and natural philosophy. He also gave instruction in French, German, and Hebrew.
With academic exercises suspended during the Revolution, Howell resigned from the college and began practicing law. Later in the war years he represented Rhode Island in the Continental Congress,. After the war he served as attorney general of the state of Rhode Island and as a justice in the district court. Howell served as a trustee of Rhode Island College from 1773 until his death. With the untimely death of President Manning in 1791, Howell returned to full-time duty as acting president. From 1793 until his death in 1824, he served as professor of law and as law librarian for the college.
The artist John Sullivan Lincoln, originally of Taunton, Massachusetts, apprenticed as an engraver in Providence from the age of fourteen. He turned to full-time painting in 1837 and soon established himself as Providence's premier portrait artist. In his later years he often modelled his paintings on photographs, producing portraits that are considered less strong than his earlier works. His painting of David Howell was made in the mid-nineteenth century, copied from an original portrait by the Connecticut artist John Trumbull. Both paintings descended in the Howell family until the James Sullivan Lincoln copy was donated to Brown in 1887 by Martha Howell Burroughs.