Maria Hamilton Beckford (Mrs. William Beckford)
1799
Painter, American, 1738 - 1820
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Artwork overview
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Medium
oil on canvas
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Credit Line
-
Dimensions
overall: 146 x 115 cm (57 1/2 x 45 1/4 in.)
framed: 177.8 x 146.7 x 10.2 cm (70 x 57 3/4 x 4 in.) -
Accession
1947.17.23
Artwork history & notes
Provenance
William Beckford [1760-1844], Fonthill Abbey, Wiltshire, and Bath, England; his daughter, Susan Euphemia Beckford, 10th Duchess of Hamilton [1786-1859], Hamilton Palace, County Lanark, Scotland; by descent to William Alexander Louis Stephen Douglas-Hamilton, 12th Duke of Hamilton [1845-1895]; (his estate sale, Christie, Manson and Woods, London, 6 November 1919, no. 74); bought by (Tooth Brothers, London);[1] sold 4 February 1920 to Thomas B. Clarke [1848 1931], New York;[2] 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] Christie, Manson and Woods, Catalogue of Family Portraits: Works by Old Masters and Modern Pictures: The Property of The Trustees of His Grace the Late Duke of Hamilton, 6-7 November 1919, London; annotated copy, Frick Art Reference Library, New York (copy, NGA).
[2] The name of the seller and the date of purchase are recorded in a copy of Portraits by Early American 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).
Associated Names
Exhibition History
1921
Exhibition of Paintings by Early American Portrait Painters, The Union League Club, New York, November 1921, no. 5, as Elizabeth Gordon.
1922
Exhibition of Paintings and Drawings by Benjamin West and of Engravings Representing His Work, Brooklyn Museum, 1922, no. 24, as Elizabeth Gordon, Countess of Sutherland
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 Elizabeth Beckford.
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., 1974-1975.
1988
The Grand Tour: The Tradition of Patronage in Southern Art Museums, Montgomery, AL, 1988-1989, unnumbered
1989
Extended loan for use by Ambassador Walter Curley, U.S. Embassy residence, Paris, France, 1989-1993.
2000
Extended loan for use by Ambassador Philip Lader, U.S. Embassy residence, London, England, 2000-2001.
2001
William Beckford, 1760-1844: An Eye for the Magnificent, The Bard Graduate Center for Studies in the Decorative Arts, New York; Dulwich Picture Gallery, London, 2001-2002, no. 2, repro.
Bibliography
1801
Britton, John. The Beauties of Wiltshire. 10 vols. London, 1801: 1:230.
1805
"A Correct Catalogue of the Works of Mr. West." Public Characters of 1805. London, 1805: 561.
"A Correct List of the Works of Mr. West." Universal Magazine 3 (1805): 528.
1808
"A Correct Catalogue of the Works of Benjamin West, Esq." La Belle Assemblée or Bell's Court and Fashionable Magazine 4, Supplement (1808): 14.
1820
Galt, John. "A Catalogue of the Works of Mr. West." The Life, Studies, and Works of Benjamin West, Esq.. London, 1820: 220.
1859
Redding, Cyrus, ed. Memoirs of William Beckford of Fonthill, Author of "Vathek". 2 vols. London, 1820: 2:369-370.
1893
Lansdown, H. V. Recollections of the Late William Beckford, of Fonthill, Wilts. and Lansdown, Bath. Edited by Charlotte Lansdown. Privately printed, 1893: 9.
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 Elizabeth Beckford.
1937
Chapman, Guy. Beckford. New York, 1937: 9, repro. opp. 40, 244.
1954
Gardner, Albert Ten Eyck. "Beckford's Gothic Wests." Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 13 (October 1954): 41-49.
1970
American Paintings and Sculpture: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1970: 120, repro., as Mrs. William Beckford.
1975
Kraemer, Ruth. Drawings by Benjamin West and His Son Raphael Lamar West. New York, 1975: 71-72, no. 158, plates 86, 87.
1977
Dillenberger 1977, 151, no. 135.
1980
Hamilton-Phillips, Martha. "Benjamin West and William Beckford: Some Projects for Fonthill." Metropolitan Museum Journal 15 (1980): 157-174, repro.
American Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1980: 255, repro., as Mrs. William Beckford.
1981
Williams, William James. A Heritage of American Paintings from the National Gallery of Art. New York, 1981: repro. 59.
1986
Von Erffa and Staley 1986, 107, 492-493, no. 594, repro.
1992
American Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1992: 378, repro., as Mrs. William Beckford.
1995
Miles, Ellen G. American Paintings of the Eighteenth Century. The Collections of the National Gallery of Art Systematic Catalogue. Washington, D.C., 1995: 344-348, color repro. 347.
2000
Kirsh, Andrea, and Rustin S. Levenson. Seeing Through Paintings: Physical Examination in Art Historical Studies. Materials and Meaning in the Fine Arts 1. New Haven, 2000: 262.
Wikidata ID
Q20180401