Portrait of a Man

first quarter 18th century

Artwork overview

  • Medium

    oil on canvas

  • Credit Line

    Andrew W. Mellon Collection

  • Dimensions

    overall: 76.2 x 63.5 cm (30 x 25 in.)
    framed: 88.9 x 76.2 x 8.8 cm (35 x 30 x 3 7/16 in.)

  • Accession

    1947.17.92

Media for this artwork is unavailable and the object is not on view. See artworks now on view

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

(Rose M. [Mrs. Augustus] de Forest, New York); sold 12 August 1921 to Thomas B. Clarke [1848-1931], New York;[1] his estate; sold as part of the Clarke collection 29 January 1936, through (M. Knoedler & Co., New York), to The A. W. Mellon Educational and Charitable Trust, Pittsburgh; gift 1947 to NGA.
[1] According to 1928 Clarke exhibition catalogue annotated with information from files of M. Knoedler & Co., NY (copy in NGA curatorial records and in NGA library).

Associated Names

Exhibition History

1922

  • Portraits Painted in the United States by Early American Artists, The Union League Club, New York, February 1922, no. 16, as Stephen De Lancey by John Smibert.

1925

  • A Loan Exhibition of the Earliest Known Portraits of Americans Painted in This Country by Painters of the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries, The Century Association, New York, 1925, no. 2, as Stephen DeLancey by John Smibert.

1928

  • Portraits by Early American Artists of the Seventeenth, Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries, Collected by Thomas B. Clarke, Philadelphia Museum of Art, 1928-1931, unnumbered and unpaginated catalogue, as Stephen De Lancey by John Smibert.

Bibliography

1922

  • Sherman, Frederic Fairchild. "John Smibert's Portrait of Stephen De Lancey." Art in America 11 (December 1922): 54-56, repro.

1928

  • Portraits by Early American Artists of the Seventeenth, Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries, Collected by Thomas B. Clarke. Exh. cat. Philadelphia Museum of Art, 1928, unnumbered, as Stephen De Lancey by John Smibert.

  • Lee, Cuthbert. "The Thomas B. Clarke Collection of Early American Portraits." The American Magazine of Art XIX (June 1928): 304, repro.

  • Barker, Virgil. "Portraiture in America before 1876." The Arts 13, no. 5 (May 1928).

1950

  • Foote, Henry Wilder. John Smibert. Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1950: 239.

1970

  • American Paintings and Sculpture: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1970: 168, repro.

1975

  • European Paintings: An Illustrated Summary Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1975: 118, repro.

1980

  • American Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1980: 309.

1985

  • European Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1985: 142, repro.

Inscriptions

falsely signed and dated, center right: J. Smibert fecit 1734

Wikidata ID

Q20177731

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