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Gilbert Stuart

John Bill Ricketts, 1795/1799

Not on View

Medium

oil on canvas

Dimensions

overall: 74.6 x 61.5 cm (29 3/8 x 24 3/16 in.)

framed: 95.3 x 82.6 x 7.6 cm (37 1/2 x 32 1/2 x 3 in.)

Credit Line

Gift of Mrs. Robert B. Noyes in memory of Elisha Riggs

Accession Number

1942.14.1

Artists / Makers

Gilbert Stuart (painter) American, 1755 - 1828

Image Use

This image is in the public domain.
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Inscription

in a later hand, lower left: Portrait of / Mr Rickarts / Horse Equestraine [sic] / Friend of the artist / Gilbert Stuart; in a later hand, lower right: Portrait of Rickarts / Horse Equestrian / An Intimate Friend of / Gilbert Stuarts

Provenance

The sitter's brother, Francis Ricketts.[1] Purchased at auction around 1853 by Peter Grain, Philadelphia.[2] (Barlow, Washington, D.C.); sold before 1867 to George W. Riggs [1813-1881], Washington;[3] his daughters, Alice Lawrason Riggs [1841-1927] and Jane Agnes Riggs [1853-1930], Washington; bequeathed by Jane Agnes Riggs to her friend, Mary F. McMullan; purchased by Pauline Riggs Noyes [Mrs. Robert B. Noyes], Pomfret, Connecticut, and New York; gift 1942 to NGA.

[1] Thomas Allston Brown, "A Complete History of the Amphitheatre and Circus, from its earliest date, with sketches of some of the principal performers," New York Clipper 8 (19 January 1861): 320. Francis Ricketts, also a circus performer, was last recorded in the United States in 1810, when he was with the Boston circus; see John Culhane, The American Circus, An Illustrated History, New York, 1990: 4, and LaVahn G. Hoh and William H. Rough, Step Right Up! The Adventures of CIRCUS in America, White Hall, Virginia, 1990: 55.

[2] Brown 1861, 320. Peter Grain, a painter, was born in France around 1786 and came to the United States sometime before 1815. After living in various American cities, including New York and Charleston, he settled in Philadelphia around 1850 with his family, including his son Peter Grain, Jr.; George C. Groce and David H. Wallace, The New-York Historical Society's Dictionary of Artists in America, 1564-1860, New Haven and London, 1957: 270, and David Karel, Dictionnaire des Artistes de Langue Française en Amérique du Nord, Quebec, 1992: 360.

[3] Lawrence Park, Gilbert Stuart: An Illustrated Descriptive List of his Works, with an Account of his Life by John Hill Morgan and an Appreciation by Royal Cortissoz, 4 vols, New York, 1926: 634-635, whose information came from Riggs' daughters. Henry T. Tuckerman, Book of the Artists: American Artist Life Comprising Biographical and Critical Sketches of American Arts, New York, 1867, 5th printing, 1870, reprint, New York, 1966: 110, 633, lists the painting, sitter unidentified, as in Riggs' collection. "Barlow" is probably the picture framer and dealer Henry N. Barlow, who worked in Washington at 237 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W., in the mid 1860s, according to Boyd's Washington and Georgetown Directory of 1865-1867.

Associated Names

Barlow, Henry N.
Grain, Sr., Peter
McMullen, Mary F.
Noyes, Robert B., Mrs.
Ricketts, Francis
Riggs, Alice Lawrason
Riggs, George W.
Riggs, Jane Agnes

Exhibition History

1925: Early American Paintings, Miniatures and Silver Assembled by the Washington Loan Exhibition Committee, National Gallery of Art (now Smithsonian American Art Museum), Washington, D.C., 1925-1926, no. 59, as Circus Rider.

1944: Gilbert Stuart: Portraits Lent by the Natioanl Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, 1944-1945, no. 19, as William Rickhart

1947: American Paintings from the Collection of the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1947.

1949: American Paintings from the Collection of the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1949.

1950: The Face of American History, Columbia Museum of Art, South Carolina, 1950, no. 14.

1951: American Portraits from the National Gallery of Art, High Museum of Art, Atlanta, 1951, no. 14 (organized by the Atlanta Art Association).

1952: [Opening exhibition], Mint Museum of Art, Charlotte, North Carolina, 1952, no catalogue.

1952: [Opening exhibition of new art gallery], Randolph-Macon Woman's College, Lynchburg, Virginia, 1952-1953, no catalogue.

1952: Opening Exhibition of The George Thomas Hunter Gallery of Art, Chattanooga Art Association, Tennessee, 1952, unnumbered catalogue.

1956: American Paintings from the Collection of the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1956.

1967: Gilbert Stuart, Portraitist of the Young Republic, 1755-1828, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.; Museum of Art, Rhode Island School of Design, Providence; The Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, Philadelphia, 1967, no. 20.

1976: Abroad in America: Visitors to the New Nation 1776-1914, National Portrait Gallery, Washington, D.C., 1976, no. 18.

1984: Loan for display with permanent collection, Oklahoma Museum of Art, Oklahoma City, 1984-1987.

1992: Extended loan for use by Ambassador William Fitzgerald, U.S. Embassy residence, Dublin, Ireland, 1992-1993.

1993: Extended loan for use by Ambassador Jean Kennedy Smith, U.S. Embassy residence, Dublin, Ireland, 1993-1998.

1998: Extended loan for use by Ambassadors Michael J. Sullivan and Richard J. Egan, U.S. Embassy residence, Dublin, Ireland, 1998-2003.

2004: Gilbert Stuart, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; National Gallery of Art (for the National Portrait Gallery), Washington, D.C., 2004-2005, no. 55, repro.

2012: Circus and the City, Bard Graduate Center: Decorative Arts, Design History, Material Culture, New York, 2012-2013.

Bibliography

1861: Brown, Thomas Allston. "A Complete History of the Amphitheatre and Circus, from its earliest date, with sketches of some of the principal performers." New York Clipper 8 (19 January 1861): 320.

1867: Tuckerman 1867, 110, 633.

1879: Mason, George C. The Life and Works of Gilbert Stuart. New York, 1879: 151, as Breschard, the Circus-Rider.

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: 32, no. 90, as Breschard, the Circus Rider.

1926: Park 1926, 634-635, no. 691, repro., as Mr. Rechart, or Rickart.

1970: American Paintings and Sculpture: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1970: 106, repro.

1975: Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. New York, 1975: 382-383, color repro.

1980: American Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1980: 234, repro.

1981: Williams, William James. A Heritage of American Paintings from the National Gallery of Art. New York, 1981: 64, repro. 66.

1984: Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. Rev. ed. New York, 1984: 378, no. 537, color repro.

1992: American Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1992: 349, 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: 208-211, repro. 209.

2000: Kirsh, Andrea, and Rustin S. Levenson. Seeing Through Paintings: Physical Examination in Art Historical Studies. Materials and Meaning in the Fine Arts 1.. New Haven, 2000: 265, as John Bull Ricketts.

2013: Evans, Dorinda. Gilbert Stuart and the Impact of Manic Depression. Burlington, 2013: 13.

2016: Rather, Susan. The American School: Artists and Status in the Late Colonial and Early National Era. New Haven, 2016: 191-193, color fig. 143.