Portrait of a Gentleman

c. 1710/1730

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Artwork overview

  • Medium

    oil on canvas

  • Credit Line

    Andrew W. Mellon Collection

  • Dimensions

    overall: 76.2 x 63 cm (30 x 24 13/16 in.)
    framed: 92.4 x 80 x 3.5 cm (36 3/8 x 31 1/2 x 1 3/8 in.)

  • Accession

    1947.17.87

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

(Rose M. de Forest, New York); sold 16 November 1930 to Thomas B. Clarke [1848-1931], New York, as a portrait of Jonathan Law by Peter Pelham;[1] sold by Clarke's executors to (M. Knoedler & Co., New York); purchased 29 January 1936, as part of the Clarke collection, by The A.W. Mellon Educational and Charitable Trust, Pittsburgh; gift 1947 to NGA.
[1] The provenance from Anne Law Hall, daughter of the supposed sitter, supplied by the dealer, de Forest, cannot be verified. A label pasted to the back of the stretcher reads: "Portrait of Governor/Jonathan Law which has/always been in the possesion [sic]/of my family in direct decent [sic]/Henry H. Peck." Henry Higgins Peck [b. 1826], of Norwich, Connecticut, was the penultimate name in the provenance supplied by de Forest. However, a letter in the NGA curatorial files of 5 February 1930 (shortly after Clarke's impending acquisition was announced in the press), from Mary F. Law of Santa Barbara, a lineal descendant, states: "it was not known in the Law family that any portrait of the Governor was in existence."

Associated Names

Bibliography

1970

  • American Paintings and Sculpture: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1970: 160, 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: 412, 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: 308-309, repro. 309.

Inscriptions

falsely signed and dated, lower right: P. Pelham pinx. 1729

Wikidata ID

Q20177755

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