James Madison
c. 1821
Painter, American, 1755 - 1828
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
West Building Main Floor, Gallery 60-A
Artwork overview
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Medium
oil on wood
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Credit Line
-
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