Oil on canvas (lined), signed and dated at upper right "Wm. M. Chase 1886," a three-quarter length portrait of Mr. William Whitewright, Jr., housed in a very fine hand-carved period appropriate gilt wood frame with gallery plaque.

SS 47.5 x 33.25 in.; DOA 58.5 x 45 in.

Kennedy Galleries, New York, NY; Prominent Private Collection

Mr. Whitewright, Jr., (1815-1898), a successful New York financier, was the namesake for Whitewright, Texas. The settlement was established in 1878, when Whitewright purchased a tract of land in the path of the Missouri-Kansas-Texas Railroad, which was then extending its tracks across the county from Sherman to Greenville. Whitewright had the land surveyed as a townsite and left two of his agents, Jim Reeves and Jim Batsell, to sell lots in the new community. The M-K-T was not Whitewright's first nor last foray into rail transportation. He was elected a Director of the New York, Lake Erie, and Western Railroad in 1890. He also served as Director for Atchison, Topeka, & Sante Fe. His railroad and other business investments were so profitable that he left a $9,000,000 estate squabbled over by his family for years after his death.

$20,000 - 30,000