Richardson Stuart
c. 1815
Artist, American, 1778 - 1860
Artwork overview
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Medium
oil on canvas
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Credit Line
-
Dimensions
overall: 52.4 x 37.2 cm (20 5/8 x 14 5/8 in.)
framed: 68.9 x 54 x 6.4 cm (27 1/8 x 21 1/4 x 2 1/2 in.) -
Accession
1947.17.85
Artwork history & notes
Provenance
Sarah Glen Douglas Stuart [Mrs. Richardson Stuart], Baltimore;[1] her brother, Jacob Douglas [1788-1873], Alexandria, Virginia; his daughter, Rebecca Douglas Hazlett; her son, Douglas Hazlett;[2] (sale, Stan. V. Henkels, Philadelphia, 5 February 1920, no. 25);[3] Thomas B. Clarke [1848-1931], New York, N.Y;[4] 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.
[1] Richardson Stuart's will, dated 18 October 1821, leaves to Sarah Glen, his second wife, his house in Baltimore "with the furniture Pictures and Plate" (Register of Wills, Baltimore, Maryland). Mrs. Stuart lent the portrait to the Peale Museum in 1823; see Catalogue of the Second Annual Exhibition in Peale's Baltimore Museum, of the Works of American Artists, including Sculpture, Painting, Architecture, Drawing, Engraving, etc. Likewise, a Selection from the Various Cabinets of Old Masters, in this City and its Vicinity, Baltimore, 1823: 6, no. 127.
[2] The provenance from Mrs. Stuart to Douglas Hazlett was provided by Hazlett to the Ehrich Galleries, New York, in a now unlocated letter whose content was recorded by the Frick Art Reference Library, New York. Ehrich Galleries' role, if any, in the sale by Hazlett is unknown. For Jacob Douglas' birth and death see Nancy Chappelear Baird, Fauquier County, Virginia, Tombstone Inscriptions, 1970, 202 (information courtesy of Lloyd House, Alexandria, librarian Sandra S. O'Keefe, 1991).
[3] Stanislaus V. Henkels, Oil Portraits of American Notables By Early American Artists, catalogue of auction on 5 February 1920: 7, illus. opp. 8. The catalogue stated that the portrait "has been in the family" since it was painted and "comes direct from the descendants".
[4] Clarke's purchase is recorded in an annotated 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 (NGA library).
Associated Names
Exhibition History
1823
Second Annual Exhibition in Peale's Baltimore Museum, of the Works of American Artists, ... in this City and its Vicinity, The Peale Museum, Baltimore, 1823, no. 127.
1921
Exhibition of Paintings by Early American Portrait Painters, The Union League Club, New York, November 1921, no. 3.
1926
A Loan Exhibition of Paintings by Early American Portrait Painters, The Century Association, New York, 1926, no. 11.
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.
1956
Rendezvous for Taste: Peale's Baltimore Museum, 1814-1830 [25th Anniversary Exhibition], The Peale Museum, Baltimore, 1956, no. 88.
1967
The Peale Family: Three Generations of American Artists, Detroit Institute of Arts; Munson-Williams-Proctor Institute, Utica, New York, 1967, no. 153.
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.
1967
Elam, Charles H., ed. The Peale Family: Three Generations of American Artists. Exh. cat. Detroit Institute of Art, 1967: 109, no. 153, repro. 110.
1970
American Paintings and Sculpture: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1970: 86, repro.
1972
Colle, Doriece. Collars...Stocks...Cravats: A History and Costume Dating Guide to Civilian Men's Neckpieces 1655-1900. Emmaus, Pennsylvania, 1972: 106, repro.
1980
American Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1980: 205, repro.
1992
American Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1992: 256, 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: 57-60, color repro.
Wikidata ID
Q20183759