George Pollock
1793/1794
Painter, American, 1755 - 1828
Artwork overview
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Medium
oil on canvas
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Credit Line
-
Dimensions
overall: 92.2 x 72.1 cm (36 5/16 x 28 3/8 in.)
framed: 123.2 x 103.2 cm (48 1/2 x 40 5/8 in.) -
Accession
1942.8.18
Artwork history & notes
Provenance
The sitter's 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 between 1915 and 1917 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 1942 to NGA.
[1] The provenance for this painting is the same as for Stuart's Yates portraits [NGA 1940.1.4, 1940.1.5, and 1942.8.29], except for the date of Cline's purchase. Cline bought this portrait and that of Mrs. George Pollock (1942.8.19) after 19 April 1915, when he wrote to Charles Henry Hart in Philadelphia that he only owned three portraits of members of the Yates/Pollock families. He owned them by 12 December 1917, when he wrote New York dealer Robert Macbeth that he owned the five Gilbert Stuart portraits of members of the Pollock and Yates families that were mentioned by Dunlap (General Correspondence, MAcbeth Gallery Papers, Archives of American Art, Washington, D.C.).
[2] The name of the seller and the date of purchase are recorded in a copy of Portraits by Early American Painters 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 portraits; Dearden confirmed the purchase in a telegram to Clarke, 16 January 1918 (NGA curatorial file for 1940.1.4, Mrs. Richard Yates).
Associated Names
Exhibition History
1922
Portraits Painted in the United States by Early American Artists, TheUnion League Club, New York, February 1922, no. 6.
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.
1943
American Paintings, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1943.
1944
Gilbert Stuart: Portraits Lent by the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, 1944-1945, no. 9
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. 13
1951
[Opening exhibition], Birmingham Museum of Art, Alabama, 1951.
American Portraits from the National Gallery of Art, High Museum of Art, 1951, no. 13 (organized by the Atlanta Art Association).
1952
[Opening exhibition], Mint Museum of Art, Charlotte, North Carolina, 1952, no. cat.
Opening Exhibition of The George Thomas Hunter Gallery of Art, Chattanooga Art Association, Tennessee, 1952, unnumbered.
[Opening exhibition of new art gallery], Randolph-Macon Woman's College, Lynchburg, Virginia, 1952-1953, no cat.
1953
American Paintings from the Collection of the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1953.
1983
Extended loan for use by Ambassador David Abshire, Residence of the U.S. Ambassador to NATO, Brussels, Belgium, 1983-1987.
1987
Extended loan for use by Ambassador Alton J. Keel, Jr., Residence of the U.S. Ambassador to NATO, Brussels, Belgium, 1987-1989.
1989
Extended loan for use by Ambassador WIlliam H. Taft IV, Residence of the U.S. Ambassador to NATO, Brussels, Belgium, 1989-1992.
1992
Extended loan for use by Ambassador Reginald Bartholomew, Residence of the U.S. Ambassador to NATO, Brussels, Belgium, 1992-1993.
1993
Extended loan for use by Ambassador Robert E. Hunter, Residence of the U.S. Ambassador to NATO, Brussels, Belgium, 1993-1997.
1997
Extended loan for use by Ambassador Alexander R. Vershbow, Residence of the U.S. Ambassador to NATO, Brussels, Belgium, 1997-2001.
2001
Extended loan for use by Ambassador R. Nicholas Burns, Residence of the U.S. Ambassador to NATO, Brussels, Belgium, 2001-2005.
2005
Extended loan for use by Ambassador Victoria Nuland, Residence of the U.S. Ambassador to NATO, Brussels, Belgium, 2005-2008.
2008
Extended loan for use by Ambassador Kurt Volker, Residence of the U.S. Ambassador to NATO, Brussels, Belgium, 2008-2009.
2009
Extended loan for use by Ambassador Ivo Daalder, Residence of the U.S. Ambassador to NATO, Brussels, Belgium, 2009-2012.
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): 1:230.
1926
Park 1926, 605, no. 648, repro.
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.
1964
Mount 1964, 167, 169, 373
1970
American Paintings and Sculpture: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1970: 104, repro.
1980
American Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1980: 233, repro.
1986
McLanathan, Richard. Gilbert Stuart. New York, 1986: 79, repro. 78
1992
American Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1992: 347, 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: 183-186, color repro. 185.
Wikidata ID
Q20179973