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Jacob Eichholtz

The Ragan Sisters, 1818

Not on View

Medium

oil on canvas

Dimensions

overall: 151.2 x 108 cm (59 1/2 x 42 1/2 in.)

Credit Line

Gift of Mrs. Cooper R. Drewry

Accession Number

1959.6.1

Artists / Makers

Jacob Eichholtz (artist) American, 1776 - 1842

Image Use

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Provenance

Mary Ragan's daughter, Mary (Mollie) Ragan Macgill [Mrs. Henry Rosenberg, 1839-1917], Galveston, Texas; bequeathed to her nephew, Dr. Cooper R. Drewry, Catonsville, Maryland; upon his death to his wife, Mrs. Cooper R. Drewry[1], Baltimore; gift 1959 to NGA.

[1] In a note to William Campbell of 18 July 1960 (in NGA curatorial files), Mrs. Drewry signs her name as Tasker James Drewry.

Associated Names

Drewry, Cooper R., Dr.
Drewry, Cooper R., Mrs.
Macgill, Mary (Mollie) Ragan

Exhibition History

1950: Behold the Child, Baltimore Museum of Art, 1950, unnumbered.

1960: American Painters of the South, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1960, no. 48.

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

1970: Two Centuries of American Portraits, University of Kentucky Art Gallery, Lexington; Paducah Art Gallery, Kentucky; J. B. Speed Museum of Art, Louisville, 1970, no cat.

1972: Sesquicentennial Exhibition, Cummer Gallery of Art, Jacksonville, Florida, 1972, no. 6.

Technical Summary

The support is a fine, plain-weave fabric that was lined in 1946 and relined in 1960. An off-white ground was applied thinly, but with a certain amount of activity in the brushstrokes. Paint was also applied relatively thinly, with edges abutting rather than overlapping; however, there is low impasto in the whites and evidence of brushstroking. Infrared reflectography reveals rather complete drawing defining the hands, the ribbons on the hats, and the edges of the dresses and indicated changes in the lengths of the sleeves. Photographs taken prior to the 1946 and 1960 treatments reveal extensive paint loss and flaking of the paint layer. Many of the losses have been inpainted, and the inpainting has reinterpreted the folds in the curtain and the clouds in the sky.

Bibliography

1960: Milley, John Calvin. "Jacob Eichholtz, 1776-1842." Master's thesis, University of Delaware, 1960: no. 53, 379.

1969: Beal, Rebecca J. Jacob Eichholtz, 1776-1842. Philadelphia, 1969: no. 692, 199-200.

1970: American Paintings and Sculpture: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1970: 56, repro.

1980: American Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1980: 155, repro.

1980: Wilmerding, John. American Masterpieces from the National Gallery of Art. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1980: no. 13, color repro.

1988: Wilmerding, John. American Masterpieces from the National Gallery of Art. Rev. ed. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1988: 74, no. 14, color repro.

1992: American Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1992: 173, repro.

1996: Kelly, Franklin, with Nicolai Cikovsky, Jr., Deborah Chotner, and John Davis. American Paintings of the Nineteenth Century, Part I. The Collections of the National Gallery of Art Systematic Catalogue. Washington, D.C., 1996: 204-207, color repro.

2003: The Worlds of Jacob Eichholtz, Portrait Painter of the Early Republic. Exh. cat. Lancaster County History Society, Pennsylvania (plus two other simultaneous venues), 2003: 72-73, fig. 4.10.

2013: Smith, Roberta. "Curator, Tear Down These Walls." New York Times 162, no. 56,036 (February 3, 2013): AR-23, color repro.