Portrait of a Gentleman

c. 1750/1770

Artwork overview

  • Medium

    oil on canvas

  • Credit Line

    Andrew W. Mellon Collection

  • Dimensions

    overall: 127.6 x 103.2 cm (50 1/4 x 40 5/8 in.)
    framed: 145.1 x 121 x 6 cm (57 1/8 x 47 5/8 x 2 3/8 in.)

  • Accession

    1947.17.15

Media for this artwork is unavailable and the object is not on view. See artworks now on view

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

(Rose M. [Mrs. Augustus] de Forest, New York); sold 2 September 1926 to Thomas B. Clarke [1848-1931], New York, as a portrait of Thomas Johnson by John Hesselius;[1] sold by Clarke's executors to (M. Knoedler & Co., New York), from whom it was purchased 29 January 1936, as part of the Clarke collection, by The A.W. Mellon Educational and Charitable Trust, Pittsburgh; gift to NGA, 1947.
[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).The provenance from Benjamin Johnson, brother of the supposed sitter, supplied by the dealer, de Forest, has been contested and cannot be verified. James Lane and Anna Rutledge noted in their report on the Clarke collection, 1952, that "A member of the Johnson family, Mrs. William Bevan of Buxton, Md., who is much interested in genealogy, never had heard of the portrait, nor of the people mentioned in the pedigree," quoted by William P. Campbell, memorandum, 20 July 1965, in NGA curatorial files.

Associated Names

Exhibition History

1926

  • A Loan Exhibition of Paintings by Early American Portrait Painters, The Century Association, New York, 1926, no. 5, as Thomas Johnson by John Hesselius.

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, as Thomas Johnson by John Hesselius.

1948

  • Extended loan for use by The Supreme Court of the United States, Washington, D.C., 1948-1992.

1972

  • Extended loan for use in Chief Justice Rehnquist's chambers, 1986-1992.

Bibliography

1932

  • Sherman, Frederic Fairchild. Early American Painting. New York and London, 1932: 36, pl. 17.

1963

  • Doud, Richard Keith. John Hesseliou: His Life and Work. M.A. thesis, University of Delaware, 1963: 57-58, 104 (no. 34), pl. 12.

1970

  • American Paintings and Sculpture: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1970: 158, repro., as Portrait of a Man by American (?).

1980

  • American Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1980: 308, as Portrait of a Man by Unknown [Formerly Considered American].

1985

  • European Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1985: 408, repro., as Portrait of a Man by Unknown Nationality 18th Century.

1992

  • Hayes, John. British Paintings of the Sixteenth through Nineteenth Centuries. The Collections of the National Gallery of Art Systematic Catalogue. Washington, D.C., 1992: 315-316, repro. 316.

Inscriptions

probably falsely signed and dated, center left: J. Hesselius Pincx/ 1768

Wikidata ID

Q20178018

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