James Madison

c. 1821

Gilbert Stuart

Painter, American, 1755 - 1828

Shown from the chest up, a cleanshaven man with pale, rosy skin and curled white hair looks off to our right against a dark, olive-green curtain in the background of this vertical portrait painting. His shoulders are angled slightly to our right, and he looks into the distance with blue eyes. His right brow, to our left, is arched, and his eyes are deeply set. His flushed cheeks and jowls sag a bit around his closed mouth, and there are lines under his eyes. His white gray hair seems to be pulled back from his forehead and swells in bushy curls over his ears. Part of a black ribbon seen beyond his shoulder may tie his hair back. He wears a bright white, high-necked, ruffled shirt under a black jacket. Light illuminates the man and the green curtain from our left.

Media Options

This object’s media is free and in the public domain. Read our full Open Access policy for images.

Information on this painting can be found in the Gallery publication American Paintings of the Eighteenth Century, pages 265-266, 268-270, and 275-277, which is available as a free PDF https://www.nga.gov/content/dam/ngaweb/research/publications/pdfs/american-paintings-18th-century.pdf

On View

West Building Main Floor, Gallery 60-A

Artwork overview

  • Medium

    oil on wood

  • Credit Line

    Ailsa Mellon Bruce Fund

  • Dimensions

    overall: 65.3 x 54.3 cm (25 11/16 x 21 3/8 in.)
    framed: 88.9 x 79.4 x 12.1 cm (35 x 31 1/4 x 4 3/4 in.)

  • Accession

    1979.4.2

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

Colonel George Gibbs [1776-1833], "Sunswick Farm," Astoria, New York;[1] his widow, Laura Wolcott Gibbs [1794-1870], New York;[2] sold through (Jacob Hart Lazarus [1822-1891], New York) in 1872 to Thomas Jefferson Coolidge [1831-1920], Boston;[3] his grandson, Thomas Jefferson Coolidge III [1893-1959], Boston;[4] his son, Thomas Jefferson Coolidge IV, Boston; sold 1979 to NGA.
[1] On Gibbs see George Gibbs, The Gibbs Family of Rhode Island and Some Related Families, New York, 1933, 18-21, Dictionary of American Biography, 20 vols., New York, 1928-1936, reprinted in 10 vols. with 8 supplements, New York, 1944-1988, 4 (part 1):244-245, and Stephen Dow Beckham, "Colonel George Gibbs," In Benjamin Silliman and his Circle: Studies on The Influence of Benjamin Silliman on Science in America, edited by Leonard G. Wilson, New York, 1979, 28-47. Tom Michie's research on these portraits (NGA curatorial files) has been very helpful in writing these entries.
[2] For her dates see Gibbs 1933, 21-25.
[3] Lazarus acted as the Gibbs' agent in the sale. After agreeing upon the price, he wrote Coolidge on 27 June 1872 that he was sending the portraits to Boston the next day with some documents concerning their history. These were his copies of letters written to Mrs. Gibbs in the 1850s certifying that the portraits were painted by Stuart for Colonel Gibbs (copies, NGA curatorial files). On Coolidge see Dictionary of American Biography, 2 (part 2):395, and Emma Downing Coolidge, Descendants of John and Mary Coolidge of Watertown, Massachusetts, Boston, 1930, 351.
[4] Coolidge 1930, 353; his father Thomas Jefferson Coolidge II died in 1912.

Associated Names

Exhibition History

1832

  • American Academy of the Fine Arts, New York, 1832, no. 196.

1838

  • Exhibition of Select Paintings, by Modern Artists, principally American, and living, under the Direction of a Committee of Amateurs, Stuyvesant Institute, New York, 1838, no. 198.

1839

  • Banquet held at City Hall, New York, on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of Washington's inauguration, 1839.

1853

  • The Washington Exhibition in aid of the New-York Gallery of the Fine Arts, at the American Art-Union Gallery, New York, 1853, no. 136.

1857

  • First Annual Exhibition of the Washington Art Association, Washington, D.C., 1857, no. 101.

1862

  • Third Annual Exhibition at the Gallery of the Fine Art Institute, Artists' Fund Society, New York, 1862, no. 176.

1875

  • Revolutionary Relics Exhibited at No. 56, Beacon Street, Ladies' Centennial Commission, Boston, 1875, no. 111.

1880

  • Exhibition of Portraits Painted by Gilbert Stuart, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 1880, no. 207.

1911

  • Loan Exhibition of Early American Portraits, The Boston Art Club, Massachusetts, 1911, no. 45.

1921

  • Loan to display with permanent collection, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 1921, 1926-1931, 1936-1943, 1946-1959.

1925

  • Loan Exhibition of Early American Furniture and the Decorative Crafts for the Benefit of Free Hospital for Women, Brookline, Mass., Park Square Building, Boston, 1925, no. 344.

1928

  • Gilbert Stuart Memorial Exhibition, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 1928, no. 43.

1932

  • George Washington Bicentennial Historical Loan Exhibition of Portraits of George Washington and his Associates, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1932, no. 80.

1943

  • The Thomas Jefferson Bicentennial Exhibition: 1743-1943, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1943, no. 27.

1968

  • Presidential Portraits, National Portrait Gallery, Washington, D.C., 1968, no. 10, repro.

1975

  • Gilbert Stuart: Painter of Presidents, Everson Museum of Art, Syracuse, New York, 1975-1976, no catalogue.

1991

  • Zeichen der Freiheit: Das Bild der Republik in der Kunst des 16. bis 20. Jahrhunderts [Emblems of Liberty: The Image of the Republic in the Art of the 16th to the 20th Century], Kunstmuseum, Bern, Switzerland, 1991, no. 324d, repro.

Bibliography

1879

  • Mason, George C. The Life and Works of Gilbert Stuart. New York, 1879: 111-112, 218-219.

1880

  • "Portraits Painted by Stuart...taken from Mason's Life and Works of Gilbert Stuart." In Exhibition of Portraits Painted by Gilbert Stuart. Exh. cat. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 1880: 46, no. 384.

1892

  • Bowen, Clarence W., ed. The History of the Centennial Celebration of the Inauguration of George Washington. New York, 1892: 98, repro. opp. 150, 484, 505.

1926

  • Park 1926, 498-499, no. 518, repro.

1931

  • Swan, Mabel Munson. "The 'American Kings'." Antiques 19, no. 4 (April 1931): 278-281, repro.

1933

  • Gibbs, George. The Gibbs Family of Rhode Island and Some Related Families. New York: 148-149.

1940

  • Swan, Mabel Munson. The Athenaeum Gallery, 1827-1873. Boston, 1940: 69.

1951

  • Bolton, Theodore. "The Life Portraits of James Madison." The William and Mary Quarterly 3rd series, 8, no. 1 (January 1951): 30-31-41-43.

1966

  • Sadik 1966, 164-166.

1978

  • Shepard, Lewis A. and David Paley. A Summary Catalogue of the Collection at the Mead Art Gallery. Amherst, Massachusetts, 1978: 196.

1979

  • Gustafson, Eleanor H. "Museum Accessions." Antiques 115, no. 5 (May 1979): 976-978, color repro.

1980

  • American Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1980: 232, repro.

  • Wilmerding, John. American Masterpieces from the National Gallery of Art. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1980: 8, repro.

  • Brown, J. Carter. "Five Gilbert Stuart Portraits At The National Gallery of Art Link Charlottesville To New England--The Coolidge Connection." The Daily Progress, Charlottesville, Virginia (23 September 1980): 10-11.

1988

  • Wilmerding, John. American Masterpieces from the National Gallery of Art. Rev. ed. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1988: 10, repro.

1992

  • American Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1992: 354, repro.

1995

  • Miles, Ellen G. American Paintings of the Eighteenth Century. The Collections of the National Gallery of Art Systematic Catalogue. Washington, D.C., 1995: 265-266, 268-270, 275-277, color repro. 276.

2004

  • Barratt, Carrie Rebora, and Ellen G. Miles. Gilbert Stuart. Exh. cat. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. (for the National Portrait Gallery). New York, New Haven, and London, 2004: 276, 313, fig. 154.

Wikidata ID

Q20184613

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