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Attributed to George Knapton

Portrait of a Gentleman, c. 1750/1755

Not on View

Medium

oil on canvas

Dimensions

overall: 71.1 x 55.7 cm (28 x 21 15/16 in.)

framed: 98.4 x 83.8 x 9.2 cm (38 3/4 x 33 x 3 5/8 in.)

Credit Line

Andrew W. Mellon Collection

Accession Number

1942.8.1

Artists / Makers

George Knapton (painter) British, 1698 - 1778

Image Use

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Provenance

Frank Bulkeley Smith [1864-1918], Worcester, Massachusetts; (his estate sale, American Art Association, New York, 22-23 April 1920, 2nd day, no. 122, repro., as portrait of Gawen Brown by Copley); purchased by Wm. J. Kain, probably for Thomas B. Clarke [1848-1931], New York;[1] sold by Clarke's executors 1935 to (M. Knoedler & Co., New York); purchased January 1936, as part of the Clarke collection, by The A.W. Mellon Educational and Charitable Trust, Pittsburgh; gift 1942 to NGA.

[1] According to a copy in the NGA Library of the 1928 Clarke exhibition catalogue annotated with information from files of M. Knoedler & Co. A newspaper clipping inserted in a copy of the 1920 sale catalogue in the NGA Library confirms the purchase by "W.J. Kain."

Associated Names

American Art Association
Clarke, Thomas Benedict
Kain, W.J.
Knoedler & Company, M.
Mellon Educational and Charitable Trust, The A.W.
Smith, Franklin Bulkeley

Exhibition History

1922: Portraits Painted in the United States by Early American Artists, The Union League Club, New York, February 1922, no. 12, as Gawen Brown by John Singleton Copley.

1926: A Loan Exhibition of Paintings by Early American Portrait Painters, The Century Association, New York, 1926, no. 4, as Gawen Brown by John Singleton Copley.

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 Gawen Brown by John Singleton Copley.

1943: American Paintings, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1943.

1947: American Paintings from the Collection of the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1947.

1948: American Paintings from the Collection of the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1948.

1949: American Paintings from the Collection of the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1949.

1950: American Paintings from the Collection of the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1950.

1955: American Paintings from the Collection of the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1955.

1956: American Paintings from the Collection of the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1956.

Technical Summary

The medium-weight canvas is plain woven; it has been lined. The ground is light
gray, thinly applied. The painting is executed thinly in layers of opaque
glazes with some impasto. There is scattered retouching, notably along the
hairline in the right part of the sitter's forehead, in the lower pert of the
waistcoat, and in the upper right quadrant. The natural resin varnish has not
discolored.

Bibliography

1922: Anon. "Current Comment: Exhibitions." Art in America 10 (1922): 144, repro. 141.

1970: American Paintings and Sculpture: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1970: 158, repro., as Portrait of a Man by American (?).

1980: American Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1980: 307, as Portrait of a Man by Unknown [Formerly Considered American].

1985: European Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1985: 408, 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: 148-150, repro. 149.

2010: Watson, Chris. "The Gawen Brown Family and 'The Last Apprentice'." Antiquarian Horology (March 2010): 33, 34 fig. 5, 41-42 (Appendix 1).