Edward Caledon Bruce

Born in Winchester, Virginia, to educated and wealthy parents, he became deaf in his teens due to complications from scarlet fever.

Over 70 of Bruce's paintings, mostly portraits, survive and are exhibited in places such as the National Portrait Gallery, the Virginia Historical Society, the Abram's Delight historic house museum, and the Museum of the Shenandoah Valley, which owns the largest single collection of his portratis.

John had emigrated from Scotland and became a prosperous teacher and businessman, playing a role in the Shenandoah Valley's first railroad.

[1][2] Sidney was born in the Tidewater region of Virginia to wealthy parents, who later moved their agriculture business to the Shenandoah Valley.

[1] Around the same time Bruce began showing an interest in art by copying portraits of his ancestors, he fell ill with scarlet fever.

[4] In his diary, Bruce suggested he carried a notebook to write down what he thought people were saying to him and his written response.

[2][6] The Bruce family owned five slaves, which he may have communicated with by teaching them to read, despite anti-literacy laws in Virginia.

[1] During the Civil War, he could not join the Confederate Army due to being completely deaf, but he did serve as a "civilian combat artist."

[12] A Richmond Evening Journal article from 1907 called the portrait "the most valuable memorial" at the Stewart–Lee House, which had been given to the Virginia Historical Society (VHS).

[1] In his obituary in The Richmond Dispatch, Bruce was described as one of the state's best known antebellum editors whose articles were immensely popular.

[1] The MSV is home to the largest single collection of Bruce's portraits, many of which are ancestors of Julian Wood Glass Jr., displayed in the Glen Burnie house.