Joseph C. Cabell

Joseph C. Cabell, a member of the House of Delegates (1808–1810 and 1831–1835) and the Senate of Virginia (1810–1829), and the president of the James River and Kanawha Company (1835–1846), is the subject of this nineteenth-century crayon drawing. The artist, Gennaro Persico, was known for his miniature portraits as well as works in chalk and crayon. The Italian-born Persico immigrated to Philadelphia and eventually moved to Richmond, where he opened an academy "for young ladies" in the 1830s.