Daniel Webster, c. 1850

Not on View

Medium

oil on canvas

Dimensions

overall: 91.7 x 73.8 cm (36 1/8 x 29 1/16 in.)

framed: 120 x 102.2 x 10.2 cm (47 1/4 x 40 1/4 x 4 in.)

Credit Line

Andrew W. Mellon Collection

Accession Number

1954.1.1

Artists / Makers

James Reid Lambdin (painter) American, 1807 - 1889

Image Use

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Inscription

falsely signed and dated, lower left: JRL / 1848

Provenance

Charles A. Gould [d. 1926], Buffalo; his estate; (sale, American Art Association and Anderson Galleries, New York, 30-31 October 1929, no. 79);[1] Thomas B. Clarke [1848-1931], New York; his estate; sold as part of the Thomas B. Clarke collection 29 January 1936, through (M. Knoedler & Co., New York), to The A.W. Mellon Educational and Charitable Trust, Pittsburgh; gift 1954 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

American Art Association
Clarke, Thomas Benedict
Gould, Charles A.
Knoedler & Company, M.
Mellon Educational and Charitable Trust, The A.W.

Exhibition History

1954: Extended loan for use at the U.S. Capitol, Washington, D.C., 1954-1980.

1982: Extended loan for use by Ambassador Arthur Hartmann, U.S. Embassy, Moscow, U.S.S.R., 1982-1987.

1989: Extended loan for use by Ambassador Maynard Glitman, U.S. Embassy residence, Brussels, Belgium, 1989-1991.

Technical Summary

The support is a medium-weight, plain-weave fabric that has been lined. There appears to be a thin white ground layer. The background is thinly painted; the face and clothing are more thickly painted, particularly in the highlighted areas of the face and collar. There are scattered small losses in various areas and some craquelure. An old T-shape tear is located above the sitter's head. In 1948 the painting was relined, without removal of the surface coatings. The surface of the painting is covered with numerous layers of varnish, which are heavily discolored and cracked in some passages.

Bibliography

1938: O'Connor, John. "Reviewing a Forgotten Artist: A Sketch of James Reid Lambdin--the Pittsburgh Painter of American Statesmen." Carnegie Magazine 12 (1938): 115-118, repro. 118.

1970: American Paintings and Sculpture: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1970: 78, repro.

1980: American Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1980: 192, repro.

1992: American Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1992: 225, 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: 404-406, repro.