State Missing Portraits of 15 Governors

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The New York Sun

ALBANY — Where’s Enos? Where’s George, for that matter. And remember John Dix, either of them?

All — Enos Throop, George Pataki, and one of the John Dixes — are former New York chief executives whose portraits aren’t in the Capitol’s Hall of Governors.

This week, visitors to the Capitol will see for the first time the portrait of Governor Yates, who was New York’s seventh governor and served from 1823 to 1824.

His portrait is on loan from the Schenectady County Historical Society, the commissioner of the state Office of General Services, John Egan, said. The OGS is on a hunt for portraits of 15 ex-governors, including:

  • John Jay, who served between 1795 and 1801 and was New York’s delegate to the Continental Congress in 1776. Jay also was the first chief justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, and negotiated the Jay Treaty with Great Britain in 1794.
  • Enos Throop, who served between 1829 and 1832. The town of Throop in Cayuga County is named for him.
  • William Marcy, who served between 1833 and 1838 and for whom Mount Marcy, the Adirondacks’ highest peak, is named.
  • John Dix, who served between 1873 and 1874. He was one of two New York governors named John Dix. The other served between 1911 and 1912.
  • William Sulzer, who served in 1913 but was impeached over his campaign records. Many historians believe Sulzer was railroaded by Tammany Hall political bosses because he refused to do their bidding.
  • Mario Cuomo, who served between 1983 and 1994, but never provided a portrait.
  • George Pataki, who served between 1995 and 2006, whose portrait is done and is expected to soon be sent to Albany.
  • Eliot Spitzer, who served between January 2007 and March 2008, when he resigned after being named in a federal prostitution investigation.

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