Painted portrait of Julia A. McNeill Poteat
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Memorial Artwork
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Visual Work of Art
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Poteat, Julia Anice McNeill
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Painted portrait of Julia A. McNeill Poteat
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Julia A. McNeill Poteat (1833-1910) was the second wife of Captain James Poteat and the mother of influential North Carolina educational figures, including William Louis Poteat, Edwin McNeill Poteat, and Ida Poteat. William was president of Wake Forest College and a Meredith College trustee, a key role impacting curriculum development. Edwin McNeill was president of Furman University and an invited speaker to Meredith College events. Ida served for 40 years as the head of the Art Department at Meredith College.
The Poteat family resided at their Forest Home in Yanceyville of Caswell County, where they owned a plantation and enslaved more than 80 people, making it the county’s third largest plantation. Julia’s religious education influenced James Poteat's conversion and led him to become a prominent Baptist.
The Civil War affected the Poteat family's finances significantly, leading them to relocate to town and open a hotel. Caswell County, during this period, was declared to be in a state of insurrection due to Ku Klux Klan activity, including the 1870 murder of a state senator. While serving at Meredith College, Ida founded the K.K.K. art club and later honored with a scholarship in her name. After Ida, the Poteat family maintained strong ties to the college where many of their descendants studied.
Ida Poteat painted this portrait in 1932 as a replica of the original Copeland painting (possibly by Oliver Perry Copeland) from around 1857. Ida Poteat dedicated the copy to Diana Stallings (relationship unknown) in an inscription on the back of the portrait. Its donor and original location on campus remain unknown. The painting is now part of the institution’s collection in the Remote Stacks.
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Oil on canvas painting of Julia A. McNeill Poteat. She is represented wearing a white blouse with a black coat and holding a white feather. Her medallion reflects the figure of her husband, James Poteat. Julia is seated in a red chair. The unframed portrait measures 28 ½ inches in height by 24 ¾ inches in width. The gold painted frame measures 37 ⅜ inches in height by 33 ¾ inches in width.
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Julia McNeill Poteat - Wife of Capt. James Poteat
Copied from Copeland portrait by Ida Isabella Poteat in 1932 for Diana Stallings
Copeland painted circa 1857
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1932
Position: 2487 (32 views)