Robert Loftin Newman

Newman gave up portraits after clients kept rejecting his work, and his only known oil portraits are two pairs of Warfield family pictures from the studio he opened in his Clarksville home in 1858. In 1849 the American Art Union in New York bought his Music at the Shop-Board. He studied in Paris under Thomas Couture and later met the Barbizon painters. After he settled in New York in 1873 he painted small madonnas, sapphos and fortune tellers in a style tied to no school. The Brooklyn Museum acquired the first collection of his work in 1914.

What the plaque says

Robert Loftin Newman 1827-1912 Born in Richmond, Virginia, Newman moved with his family to Clarksville when he was eleven. He studied art in New York, England, and France. Nationally recognized for his work, over 190 of his paintings have been located. Newman served as a lieutenant in the Confederate Army from 1861-1864. Although he traveled extensively, his permanent home was a house which stood here. Newman died in New York and was returned to Clarksville for burial.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Fort Defiance Civil War Park and Interpretive Center — 1.3 mi
  An intact earthwork fort above the Cumberland and Red Rivers in Clarksville, begun with forced Black labor and later a contraband camp and recruiting center for Black soldiers.
• Dunbar Cave State Park — 3.2 mi
  A Clarksville cave with 800-year-old Mississippian artwork, later a resort and Roy Acuff's dance stage, now a state park with seasonal guided tours.
• Cross Creeks National Wildlife Refuge — 25 mi
  An 8,862-acre refuge on the Cumberland River floodplain near Dover, made in 1962 to replace habitat Lake Barkley flooded, wintering tens of thousands of waterfowl.

More markers nearby

• Austin Peay State University — steps away
• Trinity Episcopal Church — 0.3 mi
• Austin Peay — 0.3 mi
• Clarence Cameron White — 0.3 mi