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Jacob Eichholtz

James P. Smith, c. 1835

West Building, Ground Floor - Gallery 42B

Medium

oil on canvas

Dimensions

overall: 75.5 x 63.5 cm (29 3/4 x 25 in.)

framed: 101 x 87.6 x 5.1 cm (39 3/4 x 34 1/2 x 2 in.)

Credit Line

Andrew W. Mellon Collection

Accession Number

1947.17.4

Artists / Makers

Jacob Eichholtz (artist) American, 1776 - 1842

Image Use

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Overview

Information on this painting can be found in the Gallery publication American Paintings of the Nineteenth Century, Part I, pages 218-220, which is available as a free PDF at https://www.nga.gov/content/dam/ngaweb/research/publications/pdfs/american-paintings-19th-century-part-1.pdf

Inscription

by unknown hand, on reverse, hidden by lining: Painted by / Jacob Eichholtz / 1835

Provenance

The sitter [c. 1803-1888], Philadelphia;[1] (his estate sale, Stan V. Henckels, Philadelphia, 14 December 1920, no. 91); Thomas B. Clarke [1848-1931], New York; 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] Clarke collection research (in NGA curatorial files), gives Smith's birth date as 1804; Dale T. Johnson, American Portrait Miniatures in the Manney Collection, Exh. cat. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1990: 203, lists it as 1803; Rebecca J. Beal, Jacob Eichholtz, 1776-1842, Philadelphia, 1969: 223-224, dates it c. 1803.

Associated Names

Clarke, Thomas Benedict
Henkels, Stan. V.
Knoedler & Company, M.
Mellon Educational and Charitable Trust, The A.W.
Smith, James P.

Exhibition History

1921: Exhibition of Paintings by Early American Portrait Painters, The Union League Club, New York, December 1921, 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.

1948: American Paintings from the Collection of the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1948.

1950: American Paintings from the Collection of the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1950.

1951: American Paintings from the Collection of the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1951.

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.

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

1959: Jacob Eichholtz, Historical Society of York County, York, Pennsylvania, 1959, no. 37, repro. no. 8 (organized by Pennsylvania State Museum, Harrisburg).

1973: Loan for display with permanent collection, National Museum of American Art, Washington, D.C., 1973-1990.

1990: Tokens of Affection: The Portrait Miniature in America, The Met. Mus. of Art, New York; Natl. Mus. of Am. Art, Washington, D.C.; The Art Inst. of Chicago, 1990-1991, no cat. (mention p. 203 in American Portrait Miniatures in the Manney Coll.)

2003: The Worlds of Jacob Eichholtz, Portrait Painter of the Early Republic, shown at one of three simultaneous venues: Phillips Museum of Art, Franklin & Marshall College, Lancaster, 2003, unnumbered catalogue, repro.

Technical Summary

The support is a plain-weave, medium-weight fabric. The painting has been lined, but cusping along all cut edges suggests that the image has not been reduced. There is a creamy white ground. X-radiography reveals a thick, dense layer of ground in a roughly oval shape, covering a large portion of the center. The paint layer is of medium thickness and applied evenly across the surface of the painting; however, the black paint of the sitter's coat overlaps that defining the hair and face. The thicker paint of the face is somewhat abraded. During treatment in 1959, discolored varnish was removed and the painting was lined and restored. The varnish has become moderately discolored.

Bibliography

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.

1960: Milley, John Calvin. "Jacob Eichholtz, 1776-1842." Master's thesis, University of Delaware, 1960: 326, with incorrect provenance.

1969: Beal, Rebecca J. Jacob Eichholtz, 1776-1842. Philadelphia, 1969: 223-224, no. 779.

1970: American Paintings and Sculpture: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1970: 56, repro.

1980: American Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1980: 155, repro.

1990: Johnson, Dale T. American Portrait Miniatures in the Manney Collection. Exh. cat. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1990: 203.

1992: American Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1992: 174, repro.

1996: Kelly, Franklin, with Nicolai Cikovsky, Jr., Deborah Chotner, and John Davis. American Paintings of the Nineteenth Century, Part I. The Collections of the National Gallery of Art Systematic Catalogue. Washington, D.C., 1996: 218-220, color repro.