From Family Heirlooms to Generous Gifts
In fall 2023, the Taft Museum of Art received an unexpected email from a direct descendant of Nicholas Longworth, resident of the Taft historic house for over three decades beginning in 1830. Emily Renshaw Pistilli explained she was Nicholas’s great-great-great-great granddaughter, and that her family still had in their possession portraits of him, his wife Susan, and his beloved sister Catherine. Pistilli wanted to donate the trio of paintings, which had passed down through the Longworth family for more than 160 years, to the museum. The Taft unveiled these fascinating family heirlooms in the exhibition A New Look at the Longworths, on view in the Sinton Gallery from June 28 through November 2, 2025.
Who Were the Longworths?
The Longworth family was instrumental in shaping Cincinnati’s vibrant fine arts community. Nicholas Longworth collected art and supported local artists. He commissioned Robert S. Duncanson to paint monumental landscape murals in the entryway of his home, now the Taft Museum of Art. Nicholas and Susan’s son Joseph helped establish the Cincinnati Art Museum and the Art Academy of Cincinnati. Joseph’s daughter Maria Longworth Nichols Storer founded the Rookwood Pottery Company and initiated the Cincinnati May Festival. The Longworth family’s generosity toward the Cincinnati community continues today through the gift of these portraits.
Nicholas Longworth
Nicholas Longworth’s “shrewd eyes and plain manner hide a man of very strong mind and high and generous heart,” according to the painter Lilly Martin Spencer. He practiced law, traded in real estate, grew strawberries and grapes, became a successful winemaker, and collected art. He also cultivated local artists with commissions, advice, and financial support. For decades, many historians believed that Longworth was an abolitionist (an activist who worked to end slavery across the United States), pointing to his patronage of Duncanson—a Black American artist—and other generous actions. New research shows that Longworth, like many other white businessmen of his era, believed abolitionists would damage Cincinnati’s economy, which profited from trade with Southern states. This work is one of few oil portraits of Nicholas that survive.
Susan Howell Conner Longworth
“Fair to look upon, with kindly gray eyes,” according to family historian Clara Longworth de Chambrun, Susan moved with her family from New Jersey to Ohio when Cincinnati was a pioneer settlement. By the age of 19, she had already been married and widowed. According to family lore, Susan met Nicholas at a silhouette artist’s studio downtown, and they wed in 1807. Susan gave birth to five children; a daughter, Sally, died in infancy. In this portrait, Susan’s oval brooch may commemorate a lost loved one. There is only one other documented oil painting of Susan Longworth, but its current location is unknown.
Catherine Longworth
Catherine lived her entire life in Newark, New Jersey, and never married. She remained close to her older brother Nicholas—the two were the youngest siblings out of seven—despite the distance separating them. In her will, Catherine described Nicholas’s “generous and benevolent heart” as well as her “deep and grateful love” for his lifelong attention to her welfare. Catherine likely relied on Nicholas financially because their father lost his estate after siding with the British during the Revolutionary War. This is the only known portrait of Catherine.
Conserving the Portraits
The Taft hired paintings conservator Michael J. Ruzga to examine the three portraits and note areas of concern before developing a program of conservation treatment. Ruzga identified inconsistencies in the artworks’ current state compared to what he discovered about their original condition. He removed grime and other deposits, repaired missing elements, and re-stabilized the paintings to promote their long-term preservation.
Although Nicholas Longworth’s portrait arrived at the museum in relatively good condition, Ruzga removed a heavy layer of grime, repaired scratches, and applied a fresh layer of varnish. Susan’s and Catherine’s portraits required more extensive treatments.
Susan’s portrait needed treatment of surface imperfections to enhance the appearance of her brooch and the translucent fabric covering the lowcut “V” of her bodice. Ruzga employed cleaning and inpainting techniques to conserve these areas.
Before conservation treatment, Catherine Longworth looked rather strange in her portrait: her eyes appeared sunken, and her head looked slightly misshapen. Over time, varnish applied to protect a painted surface can darken and collect dirt. Prior attempts to remedy that problem removed bits of pigment in and around Catherine’s eyes and above her ear, making her likeness less convincing. Moisture may have also caused paint in these areas to detach and flake off.
The renewed appearance of all three works better reflects the way these paintings originally looked.
Who Painted the Portraits?
While it is clear the same artist painted all three portraits, the biggest mystery surrounding these unsigned works is who created them. The Taft exhibition team studied historical documents and, with Ruzga’s help, closely compared the paintings with other portraits by artists working in Cincinnati during the mid-1800s. While they have not yet drawn any definitive conclusions, they hope to learn more through future research.
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