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Presented By: Bicentennial Office

Bicentennial Event - Grand Unveiling: Portrait of Joseph Whiting, First Classics Professor at Michigan

John Posch, Department of Classical Studies

Joseph Whiting (1800–45) was the first professor of Greek and Latin languages and one of two original professors when the University of Michigan was reconstituted as a proper university at Ann Arbor in 1841. Whiting, however, died prematurely, just days before the first Michigan class he welcomed was set to graduate. The next year, a funerary monument was erected in his honor, surviving to this day as the oldest monument on our campus. Perhaps due to his untimely death, we possess no record of his image, in contrast with other founding figures of the University. Through original genealogical and archival research, a once-misidentified oil painting was found that is thought to be of Whiting himself. Thanks to the generous support of the Department of Classical Studies, this large, handsome portrait has been acquired to be preserved and displayed in the Department. A talk will recount the discovery process of the painting, the evidence for its identification, and the most complete biography of the man—including how his cenotaph, now called “The Professors’ Monument,” lies at the heart of this serendipitous find.

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