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John Trumbull

William Rogers, 1804/1808

Not on View

Medium

oil on canvas

Dimensions

overall: 77.5 x 63.5 cm (30 1/2 x 25 in.)

framed: 101.6 x 88.9 x 6.4 cm (40 x 35 x 2 1/2 in.)

Credit Line

Andrew W. Mellon Collection

Accession Number

1947.17.13

Artists / Makers

John Trumbull (painter) American, 1756 - 1843

Image Use

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Provenance

The sitter's adopted daughter, Anne Béloste Taylor [Mrs. James Taylor, d. 1832], Albany, New York;[1] her daughter, Maria Taylor Hunt [Mrs. Ward Hunt, d. 1912], Utica, New York;[2] her nephew, Maunsell Van Rensselaer [1859-1952] and his wife, Isabella Mason Van Rensselaer [1861-1955], Albany and Huntington, New York;[3] (D.B. Butler & Co., New York); sold 16 April 1921 to Thomas B. Clarke [1848-1931], New York;[4] his estate; sold as part of the Clarke collection on 29 January 1936, through (M. Knoedler & Co., New York), to The A.W. Mellon Educational and Charitable Trust, Pittsburgh; gift 1947 to NGA.

[1] Isabella Van Rensselaer, affidavit for D.B. Butler & Co., New York, 17 February 1921 (NGA), and letter, 3 June 1949 (NGA). The date of Mrs. Taylor's death is found in "Gravestone Records from Old Burying Ground, Orange, Essex County", Genealogical Magazine of New Jersey 4, no. 1 (July 1928): 161.

[2] Henry T. Tuckerman, Book of the Artists: American Artist Life Comprising Biographical and Critical Sketches of American Artists, 1867, reprint, New York, 1966, and John F. Weir, John Trumbull, A Brief Sketch to Which is Added a Catalogue of His Works, New York, 1901, list Ward Hunt, rather than his wife, as the owner of the portrait. This is not unusual; mid-nineteenth-century authors often listed the husbands as the owners of family portraits that undoubtedly came from their wives' families. Only two "family portraits" are listed in the inventory of Mrs. Hunt's estate that is appended to her will (Surrogate's Court, Oneida County, New York; copy, NGA). These were probably the portraits of Lawrence Yates and his wife Matilda Cruger; see 1942.8.13, Matilda Caroline Cruger by an unidentified painter. The painting of Rogers could be one of the "7 pictures with frames" in the same inventory.

[3] Isabella Van Rensselaer, letter dated 3 June 1949 (NGA). The life dates of the Van Rensselaers were provided by the Albany Cemetery Association, Albany Rural Cemetery, Albany, New York, letter of 5 December 1989 (NGA).

[4] The name of the seller and the date of purchase are recorded in a copy of Portraits by Early Amerian Artists of the Seventeenth, Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries Collected by Thomas B. Clarke, Exh. cat., Philadelphia Museum of Art, 1928, annotated with information from files of M. Knoedler & Co., NY (copy in NGA curatorial records and in NGA library). The date of Mrs. Van Rensselaer's affidavit (see n. 1) suggests that she and her husband either consigned or sold the portrait to Butler immediately prior to its sale to Thomas B. Clarke.

Associated Names

Butler & Co., D.B.
Clarke, Thomas Benedict
Hunt, Maria Taylor
Knoedler & Company, M.
Mellon Educational and Charitable Trust, The A.W.
Taylor, Anne Béloste
Van Rensselaer, Isabella Mason
Van Rensselaer, Maunsell

Exhibition History

1922: Portraits Painted in the United States by Early American Artists, The Union League Club, New York, February 1922, no. 14.

1926: A Loan Exhibition of Paintings by Early American Portrait Painters, The Century Association, New York, 1926, no. 2.

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.

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

1949: Exhibition of Early American Portraits on Loan from the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., Pack Memorial Public Library, Asheville, North Carolina, 1949, no. 7.

1951: American Paintings from the Collection of the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1951.

1953: American Paintings from the Collection of the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1953.

1955: Famous Americans, Washington County Museum of Fine Arts, Hagerstown, Maryland, 1955, no cat.

1956: John Trumbull, Painter-Patriot, Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford, 1956, no. 91.

1960: Faces of America, Inaugural Exhibition, El Paso Museum of Art, Texas, 1960-1961, no cat.

1969: Inaugural Exhibition: American Portraits, The Art Museum, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina, 1969, no cat.

1970: Two Centuries of American Portraits, University of Kentucky Art Gallery, Lexington; Paducah Art Gallery; J.B. Speed Art Museum, Louisville, 1970, unnumbered

1974: Extended loan for use by Dumbarton House (The National Society of The Colonial Dames of America), Washington, D.C., 1974-1990.

Bibliography

1867: Tuckerman, Henry T. Book of the Artists. New York, 1867: 94, 628.

1901: Weir, John F. John Trumbull, A Brief Sketch to Which Is Added a Catalogue of His Works. New York, 1901: 79.

1922: Portraits Painted in the United States By Early American Artists. Exh. cat. Union League Club, New York, 1922: no. 14.

1922: Sherman, Frederic Fairchild. "John Trumbull's Portrait of William Rogers." Art in America 10, no. 6 (October 1922): 259, repro. 260.

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.

1931: Bolton, Theodore, and Harry Lorin Binsse. "Trumbull, `Historiographer' of the Revolution." The Antiquarian 17, no. 1 (July 1931): 56.

1949: Early American Portraits on Loan From the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., Exh. cat. Pack Memorial Public Library, Asheville, North Carolina, 1949: no. 7.

1949: Sizer, Theodore. "A Tenative ` Short-Title' Check-List of the Works of Col. John Trumbull. Part III." The Art Bulletin 31 (March 1949): 25.

1956: John Trumbull, Painter-Patriot, Exh. cat. Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford, 1956: no. 91.

1967: Sizer, Theodore. The Works of Colonel John Trumbull. Rev. ed. New Haven and London, 1967: 62.

1970: American Paintings and Sculpture: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1970: 116, repro.

1980: American Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1980: 250, repro.

1992: American Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1992: 369, 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: 306-308, repro. 307.