Junius Brutus Booth

c. 1830

American 19th Century

Associated Names
American 19th Century

Painter

The image is a portrait showing the head and upper part of the torso of a person. The person is positioned with the upper body slightly turned to the side while gazing forward. They have a youthful face with prominent facial features, including deep-set eyes and a straight nose, accompanied by dark, curly hair framing their face. The individual is dressed in a garment that appears to have a dark, textured shawl or wrap over a lighter shirt, visible around the neck area. The background is a plain, dark brown.

Media Options

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Artwork overview

  • Medium

    oil on canvas on cardboard

  • Credit Line

    Andrew W. Mellon Collection

  • Dimensions

    overall: 50.5 x 37.5 cm (19 7/8 x 14 3/4 in.)
    framed: 74 x 61.6 x 11.4 cm (29 1/8 x 24 1/4 x 4 1/2 in.)

  • Accession Number

    1947.17.55

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

Evert Jansen Wendell; his estate; (sale, Grahaeme's Auction Room, New York, 12 April 1922); Thomas B. Clarke [1848-1931], New York; his estate; sold as part of the Clarke collection 29 January 1936, through (M. Knoedler & Co., New York), to The A. W. Mellon Educational and Charitable Trust, Pittsburgh; gift 1947 to NGA.

Associated Names

Exhibition History

1923

  • Exhibition of Portraits by Early American Portrait Painters, The Union League Club, New York, 1923, no. 20, as William Augustus Conway by James Herring.

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 William Augustus Conway by James Herring.

1967

  • Loan for display with permanent collection, National Portrait Gallery, Washington, D.C., 1967-1980.

Bibliography

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, as William Augustus Conway by James Herring.

1970

  • American Paintings and Sculpture: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1970: 128, repro.

1980

  • American Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1980: 266, repro.

1992

  • American Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1992: 390, repro.

1998

  • Torchia, Robert Wilson, with Deborah Chotner and Ellen G. Miles. American Paintings of the Nineteenth Century, Part II. The Collections of the National Gallery of Art Systematic Catalogue. Washington, D.C., 1998: 286-288, repro.

Wikidata ID

Q20185690

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