Col. Styles, c. 1880-1885

Unknown Artist, Col. Carey Wentworth Styles, c. 1880-1885, Oil on canvas, 29 ¾ x 24 ¾ in., Gift of Mrs. Samuel Farrow Styles (Geraldine Hill)

Carey Wentworth Styles (1825-1897) was born in Spartanburg, South Carolina and spent his first five decades in South Carolina and Georgia. He served in the Palmetto Regiment during the Mexican-American War and despite having moved to Georgia in the interim fought for South Carolina during the Civil War. Trained as a lawyer, he was admitted to the South Carolina Bar in 1850. However, his most lasting impact came through a series of newspaper ventures, in particular his founding of the Atlanta Constitution. In Texas, Styles worked for the Galveston Daily News, Fort Worth Gazette and Democrat, and Austin Daily Capitol. He had relocated to Tedxas with his family in 1881 and this undated portrait depicts Styles at approximately this time, as a man past middle age.

As in the case of the portraits of Ebenezer and Lucinda Templeton Miller, it is unlikely that this artist studied in a formal, academic setting. Styles’ suit is almost entirely two-dimensional, and his face is only slightly less so. Yet the portrait is also compelling. It is forceful and direct and conveys the sitter’s dignity, intelligence, and position in society.