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Provenance

Bequeathed by the sitter's wife, Anna Maria Brodeau Thornton [d. 1865], Washington, D.C., to her step-niece, Adelaide Thomason Talbot [Mrs. Isham Talbot, 1799/1800-1873], Washington, D.C.;[1] her daughter, Mary Louisa Talbot, Kentucky.[2] Virginia Collins Miller [Mrs. Thomas Miller, 1809-1892], Washington, D.C.;[3] her daughter, Anna Thornton Miller Murray [Mrs. Sterling Murray, 1836-1917], Leesburg, Va.[4] Sold 4 January 1922 on behalf of an unidentified descendant by (Mary H. Sully, Brooklyn, New York) to (Art House, Inc., New York);[5] Thomas B. Clarke [1848-1931], New York; his estate; sold as part of the Clarke collection on 29 January 1936, through (M. Knoedler & Co., New York), to The A. W. Mellon Educational and Charitable Trust, Pittsburgh; gift 1942 to NGA.

Exhibition History

1922
Portraits Painted in the United States by Early American Artists, The Union League Club, New York, February 1922, no. 9.
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.
1943
American Paintings, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1943.
1943
Thomas Jefferson Bicentennial Exhibition, 1743-1943, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1943, no. 33.
1944
Gilbert Stuart: Portraits Lent by the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, 1944-1945, no. 16
1947
American Paintings from the Collection of the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1947.
1948
American Paintings from the Collection of the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1948.
1949
From Colony to Nation, The Art Institute of Chicago, 1949, no. 110
1950
American Paintings from the Collection of the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1950.
1950
Makers of History in Washington 1800-1950 [An Exhibition Celebrating the Sesquicentennial of the Establishment of the Federal Government in Washington], National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1950, no. 130, repro.
1951
American Paintings from the Collection of the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1951.
1952
Woodlawn Plantation, Woodlawn, Virginia, 1952, no cat.
1953
American Paintings from the Collection of the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1953.
1955
American Paintings from the Collection of the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1955.
1955
Famous Americans, Washington County Museum of Fine Arts, Hagerstown, Maryland, 1955, no cat.
1956
American Paintings from the Collection of the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1956.
1960
American Painters of the South, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1960, no. 31
1971
Extended loan for use by The Octagon House, Washington, D.C., 1971-1983.
1983
The Capitol Image: Painters in Washington 1800-1915, National Museum of American Art, Washington, D.C., 1983-1984, no. 2
1984
Extended loan for use by The Octagon House, Washington, D.C., 1984-1992.
2009
Thomas Jefferson's Academical Village: The Creation of an Architectural Masterpiece, 1817-1824, University of Virginia Art Museum, Charlottesville, 2009-2010, not in catalogue.
2012
1812: A Nation Emerges, National Portrait Gallery, Washington, 2012-2013, no. 68, repro.

Bibliography

n.d.
Thornton, Anna Maria. "History and Life of Dr. William Thornton." William Thornton Papers, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C., n.d.
n.d.
Thornton, Anna Maria. Diaries, 1793-1863. Manuscript Division, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.
1879
Mason, George C. The Life and Works of Gilbert Stuart. New York, 1879: 269.
1880
"Portraits Painted by Stuart...taken from Mason's Life and Works of Gilbert Stuart." In Exhibition of Portraits Painted by Gilbert Stuart. Exh. cat. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 1880: 58, no. 614.
1914
Clark, Allen C. Life and Letters of Dolly Madison. Washington, D.C., 1914: 73, 472-473, repro. opp. 142.
1915
Clark, Allen C. "Dr. and Mrs. William Thornton." Records of the Columbia Historical Society 18 (1915): 144-208, repro. opp. 144.
1926
Park 1926, 752-753, no. 839, 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.
1970
American Paintings and Sculpture: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1970: 106, repro.
1971
Nicholson, Arnold. "Dr. Thornton, Who Practiced Everything But Medicine." Smithsonian 2 (April 1971): color repro. 75.
1973
Mount, Charles Merrill. "Gilbert Stuart in Washington; with a Catalogue of His Portraits Painted between December 1803 and July 1805." Records of the Columbia Historical Society of Washington, D.C. 48 (1973): 91, repro. 92, 127.
1976
Stearns, Elinor and David N. Yerkes. William Thornton: A Renaissance Man in the Federal City. Washington, D.C., 1976: repro. 39.
1980
American Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1980: 235, repro.
1981
Williams, William James. A Heritage of American Paintings from the National Gallery of Art. New York, 1981: 67, repro. 68.
1992
American Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1992: 352, repro.
1995
Miles, Ellen G. American Paintings of the Eighteenth Century. The Collections of the National Gallery of Art Systematic Catalogue. Washington, D.C., 1995: 240-243, repro. 242.
2004
Barratt, Carrie Rebora, and Ellen G. Miles. Gilbert Stuart. Exh. cat. Met. Mus. of Art, New York; Natl. Gal. of Art, Washington, D.C. (for the Natl. Port. Gal.). New York, New Haven, and London, 2004: 153, 160, 239, 254, 258-260, 264, 285, fig. 144.

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