Portrait of a Gentleman, c. 1750/1770

Not on View

Medium

oil on canvas

Dimensions

overall: 127.6 x 103.2 cm (50 1/4 x 40 5/8 in.)

framed: 145.1 x 121 x 6 cm (57 1/8 x 47 5/8 x 2 3/8 in.)

Credit Line

Andrew W. Mellon Collection

Accession Number

1947.17.15

Artists / Makers

British 18th Century (painter)

Image Use

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Inscription

probably falsely signed and dated, center left: J. Hesselius Pincx/ 1768

Provenance

(Rose M. [Mrs. Augustus] de Forest, New York); sold 2 September 1926 to Thomas B. Clarke [1848-1931], New York, as a portrait of Thomas Johnson by John Hesselius;[1] sold by Clarke's executors to (M. Knoedler & Co., New York), from whom it was purchased 29 January 1936, as part of the Clarke collection, by The A.W. Mellon Educational and Charitable Trust, Pittsburgh; gift to NGA, 1947.

[1] According to 1928 Clarke exhibition catalogue annotated with information from files of M. Knoedler & Co., NY (copy in NGA curatorial records and in NGA library).The provenance from Benjamin Johnson, brother of the supposed sitter, supplied by the dealer, de Forest, has been contested and cannot be verified. James Lane and Anna Rutledge noted in their report on the Clarke collection, 1952, that "A member of the Johnson family, Mrs. William Bevan of Buxton, Md., who is much interested in genealogy, never had heard of the portrait, nor of the people mentioned in the pedigree," quoted by William P. Campbell, memorandum, 20 July 1965, in NGA curatorial files.

Associated Names

Clarke, Thomas Benedict
Knoedler & Company, M.
Mellon Educational and Charitable Trust, The A.W.
de Forest, Rose M.

Exhibition History

1926: A Loan Exhibition of Paintings by Early American Portrait Painters, The Century Association, New York, 1926, no. 5, as Thomas Johnson by John Hesselius.

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 Thomas Johnson by John Hesselius.

1948: Extended loan for use by The Supreme Court of the United States, Washington, D.C., 1948-1992.

1972: Extended loan for use in Chief Justice Rehnquist's chambers, 1986-1992.

Technical Summary

The medium-weight canvas is coarsely plain woven; it has been lined. The ground is light gray, and is used as the middle tone in the shadows of the face. The painting is executed in thin layers which range from translucent glazes to slightly opaque paint, without impasto, in the highlights and background. The paint surface is severely abraded in the background, which has been repainted in several areas. There is considerable retouching in the right shoulder and the hair on the sitter's right side, and numerous flake losses throughout have been heavily overpainted. The contours of the coat have been reinforced. The natural resin varnish has discolored yellow to a moderate degree.

Bibliography

1932: Sherman, Frederic Fairchild. Early American Painting. New York and London, 1932: 36, pl. 17.

1963: Doud, Richard Keith. John Hesseliou: His Life and Work. M.A. thesis, University of Delaware, 1963: 57-58, 104 (no. 34), pl. 12.

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: 308, 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: 315-316, repro. 316.