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Shown from the lap up, a woman with pale skin wearing a white satin dress and tall white bonnet sits sewing with her body facing our left in this vertical portrait painting. She turns her head to look directly at us from under slightly raised eyebrows with heavy-lidded, almond-shaped, dark brown eyes. She has a long, sharp nose and her high cheekbones are lightly flushed. Her thin lips are pressed together with the corners pulled back, and her mouth is framed by vertical wrinkles along her chin. A bonnet of sheer white fabric is secured around her head by a white silk ribbon tied into a four-loop bow above her forehead. The bonnet is pleated to create ruffles that frame her face. The woman pinches threaded sewing needle between her right thumb and index finger, farther from us, while holding the thread taunt with her outstretched pinky. Light catches a pearl-like object near her thumb, but on closer inspection it might be a thimble she wears on her middle finger. The remainder of the thread is secured by her left index finger and thumb, which also holds the fabric she stitches. A gold ring glistens on the third finger of her left hand. The crisp fabric of her dress looks white in the light and the shadows are a silvery, pale gray. The long sleeves fit closely along her arms and more fabric, perhaps of the skirt, billows up beside her over the arm of the chair. A piece of gauzy white cloth drapes over the woman's neck and over her shoulders, and may be tied around her torso. She sits in a dusky rose-pink upholstered chair lined with brass nail heads. The background behind her is taupe near her torso and it darkens to nearly black in the upper corners.

Gilbert Stuart

Catherine Brass Yates (Mrs. Richard Yates), 1793/1794

West Building, Main Floor - Gallery 60A

Medium

oil on canvas

Dimensions

overall: 76.2 x 63.5 cm (30 x 25 in.)

framed: 99.1 x 85.7 cm (39 x 33 3/4 in.)

Credit Line

Andrew W. Mellon Collection

Accession Number

1940.1.4

Artists / Makers

Gilbert Stuart (painter) American, 1755 - 1828

Image Use

This image is in the public domain.
Read our full Open Access policy for images .

Overview

Gilbert Stuart achieved fame as a portrait painter in both England and America. When he returned to America from England in 1793, he found himself in a homeland that was foreign to him. Politically, there was now a United States instead of thirteen separate colonies. Artistically, the fashionable style he had adopted for British and Irish sitters was highly inappropriate for Yankee merchants' forthright tastes.

Complaining about the literalness required of him in America, Stuart quipped, "In England my efforts were compared with those of Van Dyck, Titian, and other great painters—here they are compared with the works of the Almighty!" The Almighty had given Catherine Yates a bony face and an appraising character, and that is exactly what Stuart had to portray. Not wishing to waste time posing for an artist, this wife of a New York importer industriously attends to her sewing.

Yet Stuart's brilliant paint manipulation generates a verve few other artists on either side of the Atlantic could have matched. Every passage contains some technical tour de force, employing a variety of thick or thin, opaque or translucent oil paints for the fabrics, needle, thimble, wedding band, flesh, and fingernails. It is little wonder that Mrs. Richard Yates has become one of America's most famous paintings, both as an artistic masterpiece and as a visual symbol of the early republic's rectitude.

More information on this painting can be found in the Gallery publication American Paintings of the Eighteenth Century, pages 193-196, which is available as a free PDF at https://www.nga.gov/content/dam/ngaweb/research/publications/pdfs/american-paintings-18th-century.pdf

Provenance

The sitter's daughter, Catherine Yates Pollock [c. 1760-1805] and her husband, George Pollock [1762-1820], New York and New Orleans; their son, Carlile Pollock [1791-1845], New Orleans; his daughter, Marie Louise Pollock Chiapella [1828-1902]; possibly to her son, Henry Chiapella [1849-c. 1908]; his niece, Louise Chiapella Formento, New Orleans; sold 1911 to Isaac Monroe Cline [1861-1955] New Orleans;[1] purchased 16 January 1918 by Thomas B. Clarke [1848-1931], New York;[2] his estate; sold as part of the Clarke collection on 29 January 1936, through (M. Knoedler & Co., New York), to The A.W. Mellon Education and Charitable Trust, Pittsburgh; gift 1940 to NGA.

[1] Cline wrote Thomas B. Clarke in New York on 11 February 1918 that he had purchased the portraits of Mrs. Yates, her husband Richard Yates [NGA 1942.8.29], and Lawrence Reid Yates [NGA 1940.1.5] in 1911, and had later bought portraits of Mr. and Mrs. Richard Yates' daughter Catherine Yates Pollock [NGA 1942.8.19] and her husband George Pollock [NGA 1942.8.18] (NGA curatorial files). Cline told David E. Finley that he had purchased all five Stuart portraits from Formento; letter of 1 March 1948, in NGA curatorial files. For Cline's dates see Historic New Orleans Collection, Encyclopedia of New Orleans Artists 1718-1918, New Orleans, 1987, 81. For the Pollock family see Horace Edwin Hayden, Pollock Genealogy, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, 1883, 48; letters from Bureau of Archives, St. Louis Cathedral, New Orleans, 3 April 1919 and 23 July 1918; "Last Will and Testament of George Pollock," signed 2 September 1819, New Orleans, and will of Carlile Pollock, signed 16 April 1845, New Orleans (copies, NGA curatorial files).

[2] The name of the seller and the date of purchase are recorded in a copy of Portraits by Early American Artists of the Seventeenth, Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries Collected by Thomas B. Clarke, Exh. cat., Philadelphia Museum of Art, 1928, annotated with information from files of M. Knoedler & Co., NY (copy in NGA curatorial records and in NGA library). Clarke sent Clarence J. Dearden of Art House, Inc., to New Orleans to negotiate the purchase of the five portraits; Dearden confirmed the purchase in a telegram to Clarke on 16 January 1918 (NGA curatorial files).

Associated Names

Chiapella, Henry
Chiapella, Marie Louise Pollock
Clarke, Thomas Benedict
Cline, Isaac Monroe
Formento, Louise Chiapella
Knoedler & Company, M.
Mellon Educational and Charitable Trust, The A.W.
Pollock, Carlile
Pollock, Catherine Yates
Pollock, George

Exhibition History

1922: Portraits Painted in the United States by Early American Artists, The Union League Club, New York, February 1922, no. 2.

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.

1938: Trois Siècles d'Art aux Etats-Unis, Musée du Jeu de Paume, Paris, 1938, no. 165, pl. 4.

1939: Life in America [A Special Loan Exhibition of Paintings Held During the Period of the New York World's Fair], The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1939, no. 53, repro.

1944: Art of the United Nations, Art Institute of Chicago, 1944-1945, p. 46

1945: Old and New England, Museum of Art, Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, 1945, no. 60

1946: American Painting from the Eighteenth Century to the Present Day, Tate Gallery, London, 1946, no. 207

1947: 40 Masterpieces: A Loan Exhibition of Paintings from American Museums, City Art Museum of St. Louis, 1947, no. 36

1950: Diamond Jubilee Exhibition: Masterpieces of Painting, Philadelphia Museum of Art, 1950-1951, no. 59

1950: Fifty Paintings by Old Masters, Art Gallery of Toronto, 1950, no. 44

1953: Landmarks in American Art: 1670-1950, Wildenstein and Co., Inc., New York, 1953, no. 7

1954: Painters' Painters, Buffalo Fine Arts Academy, Albright Art Gallery, Buffalo, 1954, no. 19

1957: Face of America, The History of Portraiture in the United States, Brooklyn Museum, 1957-1958, no. 25

1961: Treasures in America, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, 1961, p. 94

1963: Carolina Charter Tercentenary Exhibition, North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh, 1963, no. 32

1964: 200 Years of American Painting, City Art Museum of St. Louis, 1964, p. 6

1967: Gilbert Stuart, Portraitist of the Young Republic 1755-1828, National Gallery of Art; Museum of Art, Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, 1967, no. 19

1976: American Art: 1750-1800 Towards Independence, Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven; The Victoria and Albert Museum, London, 1976, no. 46

1980: La Pintura de Los Estados Unidos de Museos de la Ciudad de Washington, Museo del Palacio de Bellas Artes, Mexico City, 1980-1981, no. 5, color repro.

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. 28, repro.

Bibliography

1867: Tuckerman 1867, 109.

1869: Dunlap, William. A History of the Rise and Progress of The Arts of Design in the United States. 2 vols. Reprinted in 3. New York, 1969 (1834): 1:196.

1922: Sherman, Frederic Fairchild. "Current Comment: Exhibitions." Art in America 10, no. 3 (April 1922): repro. 141, 144.

1924: Cortissoz, Royal. "The Field of Art." Scribner's Magazine 76 (July 1924): 110-111, repro.

1926: Park 1926, 78, 80, 837, no. 943, repro.

1928: Barker, Virgil. "Portraiture in America Before 1876." The Arts 13, no. 5 (May 1928): 284, repro. 272.

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.

1932: Sherman, Frederic Fairchild. Early American Painting. New York and London, 1932: 28, 49, 82, pl. 31.

1941: Preliminary Catalogue of Paintings and Sculpture. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1941: 188, no. 490, as Mrs. Richard Yates.

1942: Book of Illustrations. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1942: 249, repro. 10, as Mrs. Richard Yates.

1944: Cairns, Huntington, and John Walker, eds. Masterpieces of Painting from the National Gallery of Art. New York, 1944: 144, color repro., as Mrs. Richard Yates.

1949: Paintings and Sculpture from the Mellon Collection. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1949 (reprinted 1953 and 1958): 137, repro., as Mrs. Richard Yates.

1950: Barker, Virgil. American Painting, History and Interpretation. New York, 1950: 246, pl. 32.

1953: Goodrich, Lloyd. "Landmarks in American Art." Magazine of Art 46, no. 3 (March 1953): l09, cover repro.

1956: Richardson, Edgar P. Painting in America: The Story of 450 Years. New York, 1956: 98.

1959: Bouton, Margaret. American Painting in the National Gallery of Art. Washington, D.C., 1959 (Booklet Number One in Ten Schools of Painting in the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.): 20, color repro., as Mrs. Richard Yates.

1963: Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. New York, 1963 (reprinted 1964 in French, German, and Spanish): 228, repro., as Mrs. Richard Yates.

1964: Mount 1964, 169-170, 177, 184-185, 377.

1966: Cairns, Huntington, and John Walker, eds. A Pageant of Painting from the National Gallery of Art. 2 vols. New York, 1966: 2:382, color repro., as Mrs. Richard Yates.

1968: Gandolfo, Giampaolo et al. National Gallery of Art, Washington. Great Museums of the World. New York, 1968: 15, 156, color repro.

1969: Novak, Barbara. American Painting of the Nineteenth Century: Realism, Idealism, and the American Experience. New York, 1969: 35, 36, repro. 34. (2nd ed. New York, 1997: 34, 35, fig. 1.19; 3rd ed. Oxford, 2007: 16, fig. 1.6.)

1970: American Paintings and Sculpture: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1970: 108, repro.

1973: Finley, David Edward. A Standard of Excellence: Andrew W. Mellon Founds the National Gallery of Art at Washington. Washington, 1973: 127, 128 repro.

1975: Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. New York, 1975: 384-385, color repro.

1979: Watson, Ross. The National Gallery of Art, Washington. New York, 1979: 96, pl. 84.

1980: American Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1980: 238, repro., as Mrs. Richard Yates.

1980: Wilmerding, John. American Masterpieces from the National Gallery of Art. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1980: 9, 13, no. 7, color repro.

1981: Dinnerstein, Lois. "The Industrious Housewife: Some Images of Labor in American Art." Arts 55, no. 8 (April 1981): 113, 115, fig. 3.

1981: Williams, William James. A Heritage of American Paintings from the National Gallery of Art. New York, 1981: color repro. 51, detail 65, 66.

1984: Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. Rev. ed. New York, 1984: 380, no. 538, color repro.

1986: McLanathan 1986, 79, color repro. 80.

1988: Wilmerding, John. American Masterpieces from the National Gallery of Art. Rev. ed. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1988: 60-61, no. 7, color repro., as Mrs. Richard Yates.

1992: American Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1992: 348, repro., as Mrs. Richard Yates.

1992: National Gallery of Art. National Gallery of Art, Washington. New York, 1992: 219, repro.

1994: Craven, Wayne. American Art: History and Culture. New York, 1994: 142, color fig. 10.7.

1995: Miles, Ellen G. American Paintings of the Eighteenth Century. The Collections of the National Gallery of Art Systematic Catalogue. Washington, D.C., 1995: 193-196, repro. 195, color frontispiece.

2001: Southgate, M. Therese. The Art of JAMA II: Covers and Essays from The Journal of the American Medical Association. Chicago, 2001: 78-79, 210, color repro.

2004: Hand, John Oliver. National Gallery of Art: Master Paintings from the Collection. Washington and New York, 2004: 292-293, no. 238, color repro.