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Shown from the waist up, a pale-skinned, clean-shaven man sits looking at us in front of a peanut-brown background in this vertical portrait painting. His shoulders are angled to our left, but he turns his head to look at us with blue eyes under dark, arched brows. He has a bumped nose, fleshy, flushed cheeks, loose jowls, and a round chin. He has bags under his eyes, crow’s feet, and his thin pink lips are parted. Gray hair curls like bushes to each side of his balding head, which is white across the top of his pate and down the long, bushy sideburns. He wears a high-collared white shirt with a ruffle at the throat under a similarly high-collared black coat. His left elbow, to our right and closer to us, rests on the arm of a wooden armchair. That hand rests in a loose fist in front of the man’s waist, and the cuff is lined with white lace.

Gilbert Stuart

John Adams, c. 1800/1815

West Building, Ground Floor - Gallery 42B

Medium

oil on canvas

Dimensions

overall: 73.7 x 61 cm (29 x 24 in.)

framed: 97.5 x 84.5 x 10.8 cm (38 3/8 x 33 1/4 x 4 1/4 in.)

Credit Line

Gift of Mrs. Robert Homans

Accession Number

1954.7.1

Artists / Makers

Gilbert Stuart (painter) American, 1755 - 1828

Image Use

This image is in the public domain.
Read our full Open Access policy for images .

Overview

Information on this painting can be found in the Gallery publication American Paintings of the Eighteenth Century, pages 211-212, which is available as a free PDF https://www.nga.gov/content/dam/ngaweb/research/publications/pdfs/american-paintings-18th-century.pdf

Provenance

John Quincy Adams [1767-1848], Quincy, Massachusetts; his son, Charles Francis Adams [1807-1886], Boston, Massachusetts; his son, Brooks Adams [1848-1927], Boston, Massachusetts; his niece, Abigail Adams Homans [Mrs. Robert Homans, 1879-1974];[1] gift 1954 to NGA.

[1] For Mrs. Homans' dates see The New York Times Biographical Service, 24 vols. (and continuing), New York, 1969-, 5:222.

Associated Names

Adams, Brooks
Adams, Charles Francis
Adams, John Quincy
Homans, Robert, Mrs.

Exhibition History

1880: Exhibition of Portraits Painted by Gilbert Stuart, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 1880, no. 304.

1889: Centennial Celebration of the Inauguration of George Washington-Loan Exhibition of Historical Portraits and Relics, Metropolitan Opera House, New York, 1889, no. 56.

1931: Loan to display with the permanent collection, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 1931, 1932, and 1935.

1950: Makers of History in Washington, 1800-1950, National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1950, no. 7.

1951: They Gave Us Freedom, Colonial Williamsburg and the College of William and Mary, Williamsburg, Virigia, 1951, no. 3.

1969: A Nineteenth-Century Gallery of Distinguished Americans, National Portrait Gallery, Washington, 1969, p. 12.

2002: Fathers and Sons: Two Families - Four Presidents, George Bush Presidential Library and Museum, College Station, Texas, 2002, no cat.

2004: Gilbert Stuart, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; National Gallery of Art (for the National Portrait Gallery), Washington, D.C., 2004-2005, no. 59, repro.

2006: Extended loan for use by Vice President and Mrs. Richard Cheney, Vice President's Residence, Washington, D.C., 2006-2009.

2010: Extended loan for use by Ambassador Charles Rivkin, U.S. Embassy, Paris, 2010-2011.

Bibliography

1879: Mason, George C. The Life and Works of Gilbert Stuart. New York, 1879: 125-126, 142.

1880: "Portraits Painted by Stuart...taken from Mason's Life and Works of Gilbert Stuart." In Exhibition of Portraits Painted by Gilbert Stuart. Exh. cat. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 1880: 28, no. 1.

1892: Bowen, Clarence W., ed. The History of the Centennial Celebration of the Inauguration of George Washington. New York, 1892: 144, 423-424, repro. opp. 17.

1926: Park 1926, 89, no. 1, repro.

1967: Oliver, Andrew. Portraits of John and Abigail Adams. Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1967: 132-178, repro. fig. 64, 251, no. 106.

1970: American Paintings and Sculpture: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1970: 100, repro.

1975: Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. New York, 1975: 387, color repro.

1980: American Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1980: 226, repro.

1981: Williams, William James. A Heritage of American Paintings from the National Gallery of Art. New York, 1981: 67, repro. 70.

1984: Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. Rev. ed. New York, 1984: 383, no. 544, color repro.

1986: McLanathan 1986, 113, color repro.

1992: American Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1992: 356, 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: 211-212, color repro. 213.

2013: Evans, Dorinda. Gilbert Stuart and the Impact of Manic Depression. Burlington, 2013: 67-68, 78, 84, 89-90 n. 34, fig. 35.