Bartholemew Thaddeus Scrivner

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Bartholemew Thaddeus Scrivner (B.T. Scrivener) was an artist born in Germany who immigrated to Portland Oregon.

Born in 1818 in Frankfort Germany, he is famous for a series of 44 paintings of the Tarot Cards, which were commissioned by an anonymous entity or individual at great expense. The paintings were commissioned in 1868 when the artist was 50 years old. The subject matter was the first 22 cards of the Tarot deck, also known as the Major Arcana. Each painting depicts one of the 22 cards from the Major Arcana, and 22 of the paintings depict an inverted version of the first 22 cards of the Tarot deck, also known as The Dark Arcana, or The Inverted Arcana.

Beset by tragedy, the artist did not complete the final piece until 1919 at the age of 100. He disappeared shortly thereafter. Rumor at the time was that he became madder with each painting he finished, and once the final piece was done, he was committed to Portland's Home for the Mentally Deranged.

It is believed that he lived until the age of 101, however, there is some dispute as to the precise year B.T. Scrivner was born, as some claim that he was only 25 when the paintings were commissioned, which would have placed him around 75 at the age of death.

Scrivener immigrated to Portland, Oregon, by accident as a youth. Born in Frankfort-on-the-Main, Germany, he was headed to Panama around 1895 with the Belgian Commission to work on the Panama Canal. While on route the ship was wrecked in a storm, and the survivors were rescued by the Merchant Marines after an SOS call was placed. The Merchant Marines were en route to Portland, Oregon, and B.T. Scrivener took up residency upon debarking in Oregon, declaring it "as good a place as any," rather than return to Germany, or continue on to Panama.

Other famous Portland luminaries who were also on the ship headed to Panama with B. T. Scrivener include Charles A. Alisky, a candy maker turned millionaire and father to Charles Walter Alsky, ex-husband to the infamous Cleta Pearl Oilman Alisky.

"The Alisky Route" was used as slang for anyone who "shipwrecked" and lands in a place they didn't expect and was a famous phrase in its time. B.T. Scrivener was often quoted as having taken "The Alisky Route" to America.

The most famous painting by Scrivener is The Inverted Empress, or Empress Inverted, and is the only piece that has ever been made public. It is dated 1919, and is believed to be Scrivener's final piece before going mad. It is understood that the remaining works include 22 depictions of the Minor Arcana of the Tarot Deck, with 0. The Fool, being the first and included the "inverse" version of each card (i.e., 0. The Inverted Fool being the 23rd in the series).

The collection was commissioned through an agent with the law firm Pitkin & Bellows, located in San Diego, California, with offices in Portland, Houston, and Hong Kong. Nothing is known about the details of the party commissioning the pieces but it is estimated that the collection as a whole is now worth at over 5.2 million USD. Documentation exists that indicates each painting was commissioned at $6,666.66 USD around the year 1818, which would place the initial value of the collection at $293,333.04 at the time commissioned.

It is believed the following pieces were commissioned, and still exist:

0. Zero the Fool

I. The Magician

II. The Popess

III. The Empress

IIII. The Emperor

V.The Pope

VI. The Beloved

VII. Prudence The Chariot

VIII. Justice

VIIII. The Hermit

X. The Wheel of Fortune

XI. Fortitude

XII. The Hanged Man

XIII. The Dark Arcana

XIIII. The Angle of Temperance

XV. The Devil

XVI. The Tower

XVII. The Star

XVIII. The Moon

XVIIII. The Sun

XX. Judgment

XXI. The World

The second half of The Collection is often referred to as "The Dark Arcana" or "The Inverted" as they depict and mirror the imagery of their counterparts above as follows:

0. The Fool Inverted

I. The Inverted Magician

II. The Dark Popess

III. Empress Inverted

IIII. Tyrant Emperor of Inversion

V. The Dark Pope

VI. The Lovers Inverted

VII. Inverted Chariot

VIII. Justice Inverted

VIIII. The Hermit Inverted

X. The Wheel Inverted

XI. Fortitude Inverted

XII. Hanged Man Inverted

XIII. Death Inverted

XIIII. Temperance Perverted

XV. The Inverted Devil

XVI. The Tower Inverted

XVII. Inverted Star

XVIII. Inverted Moon

XVIIII. Inverted Sun

XX. Judgment Inverted

XXI. The World Inverted

Legend attached to the works after they became notorious during a dispute regarding the value of the art. In 1968 the sole heir to the David MacMillan fortune, out of Portland Oregon, died in an explosion due to a gas leak that had gone unnoticed in her camping trailer while she was on a fishing trip to Arizona with her husband.

The proceeds of the MacMillan estate went to The Right Noble Charity for the Parthenia Project Protecting Orphans, Half-Orphans, Widows, and Wayward Children (The Parthenia Project(s)).

Little information was made public regarding the collection, as none of the pieces went for sale, and court records only indicate that the collection was described and valued by an art expert as disclosed in an affidavit attached to court filings regarding the disbursement of the estate. The collection was restored and valued during this time, and subsequently placed in a vault.

The collection is currently housed in a secure location, the storage of which is paid for by an endowment by the Parthenia Project.

Once a year, those sponsored by the Parthenia Project put on an art exhibition and fundraising gala to raise money for the arts. Each year, a different piece from the collection has been on display. This tradition has been ongoing since 1818, after delivery of the first commission. The gala was usually held on June 21st of each year. The COVID-19 pandemic of 2020 was the first year that the event was not held in 200 years.

The imagery behind the collection is closely guarded. The only known piece to be made widely available was The Inverted Empress (1919), which was revealed in 2019 after someone smuggled a camera into the Parthenia Project Gala, which displayed the Inverted Empress in honor of the painting's 200th anniversary. Critics have reviewed the work as an extraordinary rendition of an early century Odalisque.

Executed in soft pastel, it depicts a female nude lying on a blue couch. The piece is traditional in the Odalisque form, however, the Empress is facing away from the viewer, apparently asleep. It would have been considered somewhat risque for the time, but critics have lauded the execution of the subject as superb. Some have claimed that the model for the painting was Cleta Pearl Oilman Alisky, who was well known in Vaudville circles as a beauty.

References

MacMillan, Christine, B.T. Scrivener The Artist Nobody Knew, Portland, Montgomery Press, 1968.

MacMillan, Parthenia Christine, Scrivener, The Artist Nobody Liked, Los Angeles, Ingrahm College Press Ltd., 1970.

LeCompte, Sadie, Bartholemew Thaddeus Scrivener, A Misunderstood Madman, Mesa, Krug Family Press Inc., 1976.

MacMillan, Kathleen Dorothy, Troubled Genius, Houston, Down Down Turtle and Down Publishing, 1981.

Krug, George, Killing It With Paint, The Untold Story of B.T.Scrivener, Killer of Portland Oregon, San Francisco, Parthenia Press Publishing, 1994.

Ingrahm, Otto, An Innocent Madman, B.T. Scrivener, Not the Two Truths and A Lie Killer of Portland Oregon, Parthenia's Publishing, Inc., 1997.

Wride, Bartholemew Thaddeus, Two Truths and A Lie, The Artist and Killer of Maricopa County, Mesa, Mesa Arizona Free Press Publishing, 2003.

Scrivener, Parthenia Prudence, Painter, Polygamist, Madman, Murderer? Benicia, California Free Press, 2006.

Bartleby, Ella Bella, B.T. Scrivener, Innocent Man Painting; How DNA Evidence Exonerated and Exposed the Truth of the Two Truths and A Lie Killing Spree of 1919, San Franciso, Golden State Free Publishing, 2010.

Morgan, Alexander J., Demon Painter; The Mystery behind the Parthenia Paintings, Houston, Seersucker Publishing House, 2015.

Ride, Zackary Allen, Goddesses and Galas, a History of the Parthenia Painting Society, Martinez, California Poppy Free Press Ltd., 2016

Morgan-MacMillan, Parthenia Sadie, The Greatest Gala on Earth, Hollywood, Pineapple House Publishing, 2017.

Gabriel, Charlie Grace, Haunted Artist; B. T. Scrivener's Work In Context Ventura, Blue Beach Publishing House Publishing, 2018.

B.T. Scrivener

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