Portrait of Dr. Noble Wimberly Jones
Datec. 1804
MediumOil on canvas
DimensionsCanvas: 30 × 25 1/4 inches (76.2 × 64.1 cm)
Framed: 37 1/2 × 32 1/2 × 2 1/2 inches (95.3 × 82.6 × 6.4 cm)
Credit LineGift of the Wormsloe Foundation, Inc.
Object number1981.14.1
CopyrightThe images and text contained on this page are owned by Telfair Museums or used by the Museum with permission from the owners. Unauthorized reproduction, transmission or display of these materials is prohibited with the exception of items deemed “fair use” as defined by U.S. and international copyright laws.Label TextDr. Noble Wimberly Jones emigrated from England to Georgia with his parents in 1733. In addition to being a notable doctor of medicine in Savannah, Jones served as elected speaker of the Lower House of Assembly of Georgia from 1768 to 1770. Because he was so outspoken in his opposition to British rule, Georgia’s governor (James Wright, whose portrait can be seen to the right) dissolved the entire assembly in an effort to curtail his influence. Later, Jones would become a delegate to the Continental Congress.
The shadow cast by Jones’s profile in the background of the portrait honors Jones as a political figure. Profiles of the United States’ new leaders were frequently circulated during the decades after the nation’s founding, and deliberately evoked the heroic coins and medals of the Roman republic.
