Jonathan Bentham, c. 1725

Not on View

Medium

oil on canvas

Dimensions

overall: 116.5 x 88.9 cm (45 7/8 x 35 in.)

framed: 129.5 x 102.9 x 5 cm (51 x 40 1/2 x 1 15/16 in.)

Credit Line

Gift of Edgar William and Bernice Chrysler Garbisch

Accession Number

1959.11.4

Artists / Makers

American 18th Century (artist)

Image Use

This image is in the public domain.
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Provenance

Recorded as from New York. Descended in the family of the sitter to Walter Gay [1856-1937];[1] estate of Walter Gay. Robert Lebel [1901-1986], New York; consigned March 1948 to (M. Knoedler and Co., New York); sold 1948 to Edgar William and Bernice Chrysler Garbisch; gift 1959 to NGA.

[1] According to old M. Knoedler and Co. records, Jonathan Bentham was an ancestor of the American artist Walter Gay, who was born in Hingham, Massachusetts, in 1856. Gay is said to have inherited the painting from his family and taken it with him to Paris, where he spent most of his life. No genealogical records for the Bentham family or connection between it and the Gay family have been located. The late Gary Reynolds, former curator of painting, The Newark Museum, observed that "it is a very curious painting to have come out of Walter Gay's estate. It certainly doesn't show up in the myriad paintings of his apartment and château, or in the published lists of his collection" (letter of 28 March 1990, in NGA curatorial files). An inquiry to Knoedler's revealed that the painting came to them from an individual whose connection to the Gay estate, if any, is unknown (Melissa De Medeiros, librarian, M. Knoedler and Co., letter of 24 April 1990, in NGA curatorial files).

Associated Names

Garbisch, Edgar William, Mr. and Mrs.
Gay, Walter
Knoedler & Company, M.
Lebel, Robert

Exhibition History

1954: American Primitive Painting, traveling exhibition organized by the Smithsonian Inst. for the U.S. Information Service, Washington, 1954-1955, no. 2. First venue: Kunstmuseum, Lucerne, Switzerland.

1957: American Primitive Paintings from the Collection of Edgar William and Bernice Chrysler Garbisch, Part II, National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1957, no. 9.

1958: American Primitive Paintings from the Collection of Edgar William and Bernice Chrysler Garbisch, Springfield Art Museum, Missouri, 1958, no cat.

1961: 101 Masterpieces of American Primitive Painting from the Collection of E.W. and B.C. Garbisch, traveling exh. by the Amer. Federation of Arts, New York, 1961-1964, no. 1, color repro. First venue: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, N.Y.

1967: Fifty Masterpieces of American Primitive Painting from the Collection of Edgar William and Bernice Chrysler Garbisch, Society of the Four Arts, Palm Beach, Florida, 1967, no cat.

1968: American Naive Painting of the 18th and 19th Centuries: 111 Masterpieces from the Collection of E.W. and B.C. Garbisch, traveling exh. by Amer. Fed. of Arts, N.Y., 1968-1970, no. 1, repro. First venue: Grand Palais, Paris.

1970: American Naive Painting of the 18th and 19th Centuries: Masterpieces from the Collection of E.W. and B.C. Garbisch, organized by the Amer. Fed. of Arts, N.Y., and Mainichi News., Nihobashi Mitsukoshi, Tokyo, 1970, no cat.

1972: American Primitive Painting, South Texas Artmobile, Corpus Christi, traveling exhibition by the International Exhibitions Foundation, Washington, 1972-1973, no cat.

1978: The American Folk Art Tradition: Paintings from the Garbisch Collection, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1978.

1981: American Naive Paintings from the National Gallery of Art, Terra Museum of American Art, Evanston, Illinois, 1981-1982, no. 4, color repro, (cat. by Ronald McKnight Melvin).

Bibliography

1970: American Paintings and Sculpture: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1970: 126, repro.

1980: American Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1980: 265, repro.

1992: American Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1992: 389, repro.

1992: Chotner, Deborah, with contributions by Julie Aronson, Sarah D. Cash, and Laurie Weitzenkorn. American Naive Paintings. The Collections of the National Gallery of Art Systematic Catalogue. Washington, D.C., 1992: 419-421, repro. 420.