Commodore John Rodgers
c. 1814
Artist, American, 1780 - 1840
Artwork overview
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Medium
oil on canvas
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Credit Line
-
Dimensions
overall: 91.2 x 71.1 cm (35 7/8 x 28 in.)
framed: 120.7 x 100.3 x 10.8 cm (47 1/2 x 39 1/2 x 4 1/4 in.) -
Accession
1943.14.1
Artwork history & notes
Provenance
Charlotte I. Bullus, New York; gift 1838 to Minerva Denison Rodgers [1784-1877], wife of the sitter, Washington, D.C.;[1] her daughter, Ann Minerva Rodgers Macomb [1824-1916], Washington, D.C.; her daughters, Nannie Rodgers Macomb [1864-1952] and Christina Livingston Macomb [-1945], Washington, D.C.;[2] gift 1943 to NGA.
[1] Correspondence relating to the gift is found in an envelope marked "Jarvis Portrait," in the Rodgers Family Papers, ser. I, cont. 17, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. None of the correspondence makes specific mention of the artist; however, in a letter of 19 November 1838, to Minerva Rodgers, Charlotte Bullus writes, "The likeness has always been considered most excellent, and being an original one, is preferable to a copy."
[2] Provenance information beginning with the ownership of Minerva Denison Rodgers was conveyed by Nannie Macomb and Christina Macomb to the Frick Art Reference Library, New York, in 1926.
Associated Names
Exhibition History
1814
Possibly Annual Exhibition, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, 1814, no. 103.
1834
Possibly Annual Exhibition, National Academy of Design, New York, 1834, no. 132.
1925
Exhibition of Early American Paintings, Miniatures and Silver Assembled by the Washington Loan Exhibition Committee, National Gallery of Art (now Smithsonian American Art Museum), Washington, D.C., 1925-1926, no. 25.
1935
Exhibition of Portraits, Miniatures, Silver and Other Momentoes of the Rodgers Family, Maryland Historical Society, Baltimore, 1935, no cat.
1940
Loan Exhibition: Naval Personages & Traditions, Naval Academy Museum, Annapolis, 1940, no. 27.
1964
Loan for display in the Reception Suite, National Museum of History and Technology (now National Museum of American History), Washington, D.C., 1964-1975.
1986
Extended loan for use by the White House Preservation Office in the ceremonial office of the Vice President, Old Executive Office Building, Washington, D.C., 1986-1997.
1997
Extended loan for display in the ceremonial office of Vice President Albert Gore, Jr., Old Executive Office Building, Washington, D.C., 1997-2001.
2001
Extended loan for display in the ceremonial office of the Vice President, Executive Office Building, Washington, D.C., 2001-2007; 2008-2009.
2012
Extended loan for display in the ceremonial office of the Vice President, Dwight D. Eisenhower Executive Office Building, Washington, D.C., 2012-
Bibliography
1814
"Review of the Fourth Annual Exhibition of the Columbian Society of Artists and the Pennsylvania Academy." Port Folio 4 (July 1914): 98.
1834
"Miscellaneous Notices of the Fine Arts, Literature, Science, The Drama, Etc." American Monthly Magazine 3 (June 1834): 285.
1938
Bolton, Theodore, and George C. Groce, Jr. "John Wesley Jarvis: An Account of His Life and the First Catalogue of His Work." The Art Quarterly 1 (Autumn 1938): 317.
1949
Dickson, Harold E. John Wesley Jarvis, American Painter, 1780-1840. New York, 1949: 164, 196, 363, no. 200.
1970
American Paintings and Sculpture: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1970: 72, repro.
1980
American Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1980: 182, repro.
1992
American Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1992: 211, 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: 366-368, color repro.
Wikidata ID
Q20183481