Nehemiah Partridge

[3] Advertisements in the local press suggest that he began his painting career at this time, though no works by his hand from the period are known to survive.

[3] Sometime around 1718 Partridge was introduced into the society of Albany, New York, which had not yet been visited by any painters,[4] and close to fifty portraits of local notables have been attributed to him.

[3] Partridge counted among his subjects three future mayors, Robert Livingston the Elder, and Pieter Schuyler; his portrait of the latter, a full-length, is among the earliest such in the colonies.

[5] This changed with the discovery by art historian Mary Black, in the account book of Everett Wendell, of an agreement with Partridge dated May 13, 1718, to trade a horse for ten pounds and four portraits.

Chief among them is the fact that nearly all of his paintings are inscribed with the phrase "Aetatis suae" or some variant thereof, followed by the sitter's age and the date of completion of the painting; it was this peculiarity that led to the artist's christening as the "Aetatis Suae Limner", while the epithet "Schuyler Limner" came from the same painter's association with the Schuyler family.