National Gallery of Art :: The Collection :: John Bill Ricketts
  • Inscription
  • Provenance
  • Exhibition History
  • Bibliography

Overview

No overview.

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

Marks and Labels

null

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.

Exhibition History

1925
Early American Paintings, Miniatures and Silver, National Gallery of Art (subsequently National Collection of Fine Arts, National Museum of American Art, and 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. cat.
1952
[Opening exhibition of new art gallery], Randolph-Macon Woman's College, Lynchburg, Virginia, 1952-1953, no cat.
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 Ambassador Michael J. Sullivan, 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.

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 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 Levenson, Rustin S. Seeing Through Paintings: Physical Examination in Art Historical Studies. Physical Examination in Art Historical Studies, vol. 1. New Haven, 2000: 265 (as John Bull Ricketts).
2013
Evans, Dorinda. Gilbert Stuart and the Impact of Manic Depression. Burlington, 2013: 13.

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