Major Thomas Biddle
1832
Artist, American, 1811 - 1847
Artist, American, born England, 1783 - 1872
Artwork overview
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Medium
oil on canvas
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Credit Line
-
Dimensions
overall: 90.5 x 69.5 cm (35 5/8 x 27 3/8 in.)
framed: 122.9 x 102.4 x 11.6 cm (48 3/8 x 40 5/16 x 4 9/16 in.) -
Accession
1942.8.31
Artwork history & notes
Provenance
The sitter's sister, Ann Biddle Hopkinson [Mrs. Francis Hopkinson, 1800-1863], Bordentown, New Jersey; her daughter and the sitter's niece, Emily Hopkinson Scovel [1839-1883]; her daughter, Florence Scovel Shinn [b. 1871], New York; purchased 4 November 1918 by Thomas B. Clarke [1848-1931], New York; his estate; sold as part of the Clarke collection 29 January 1936, through (M. Knoedler & Company, New York), to The A. W. Mellon Educational and Charitable Trust, Pittsburgh; gift 1942 to NGA.
Associated Names
Exhibition History
1922
Exhibition of Portraits by Early American Artists, The Union League Club, New York, March 1922, no. 12, as by Thomas Sully.
Memorial Exhibition of Portraits by Thomas Sully, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia, 1922, no. 125.
1926
A Loan Exhibition of Paintings by Early American Portrait Painters, The Century Association, New York, 1926, no. 6, as by Thomas Sully.
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 by Thomas Sully.
1944
John Trumbull and his Contemporaries, Lyman Allyn Museum, New London, Connecticut, 1944, no. 123.
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.
1966
Loan for display with permanent collection, National Museum of American History, Washington, D.C., 1966-1987.
1988
Extended loan for use by Blair House, Washington, D.C., 1988-1995.
Bibliography
1909
Hart 1909, no. 141, 30.
1921
Biddle, Edward, and Mantle Fielding. The Life and Works of Thomas Sully (1783-1872). Philadelphia, 1921: no. 147, 101.
1922
Catalogue ofthe Memorial Exhibition of Portraits by Thomas Sully. Exh. cat. Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia, 1922: no. 125, 89.
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, as by Thomas Sully.
1949
Paintings and Sculpture from the Mellon Collection. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1949 (reprinted 1953 and 1958): 144, repro.
1970
American Paintings and Sculpture: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1970: 114, repro.
1980
American Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1980: 245, repro.
1992
American Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1992: 364, 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: 192-195, color repro.
Wikidata ID
Q20185758