Patrick Henry Argues the Parsons' Cause

A map of Virginia graces the wall of the Hanover Court House, where Patrick Henry is shown arguing the defense in Parsons' Cause in a packed courtroom in December 1763. Henry's political career took wing with his success in this lawsuit that involved the salary of James Maury, an Anglican clergyman. The artist, George Cooke, painted several children—one of whom holds a rolling hoop—among the spectators in this oil painting. An itinerant artist, Cooke was a well-known painter of southern landscapes, portraits, and historical scenes in the mid-nineteenth century.