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Chester Harding

Amos Lawrence, c. 1845

Not on View

Medium

oil on canvas

Dimensions

overall: 215 x 136 cm (84 5/8 x 53 9/16 in.)

framed: 254 x 177.8 x 12.7 cm (100 x 70 x 5 in.)

Credit Line

Given in memory of the Rt. Rev. William Lawrence by his children

Accession Number

1944.1.1

Artists / Makers

Chester Harding (artist) American, 1792 - 1866

Image Use

This image is in the public domain.
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Provenance

The sitter [1786-1852], Boston; his wife, Nancy Lawrence [d. 1866], Boston;[1] her son, William R. Lawrence [d. 1885], Brookline, Massachusetts.[2] his son, Francis W. Lawrence [d. 1903], Brookline, Massachusetts; his wife, Lucilla T. Lawrence [d. 1922], Brookline, Massachusetts.[3] her brother-in-law, Robert M. Lawrence, Boston; his cousin, the Rt. Rev. William Lawrence [d. 1941], Boston, by 1923;[4] his children;[5] gift 1944 to NGA.

[1] Amos Lawrence will, 21 February 1846, Suffolk County, Massachusetts (photocopy in NGA curatorial files).

[2] Nancy Lawrence will, 4 November 1861, Suffolk County, Massachusetts (photocopy in NGA curatorial files). She leaves "the bust, portrait, and miniature of their beloved father" as well as all her remaining portraits to her sons William R. and Amos A. Lawrence. By 1856 William Lawrence wrote of the portrait as being in his "possession" (Lawrence 1856, viii).

[3] Francis W. Lawrence will, 14 January 1903, Probate Records, Norfolk County, Massachusetts (photocopy in NGA curatorial files). Lucilla T. Lawrence will, 24 May 1920, Probate Records, Norfolk County, Massachusetts (photocopy in NGA curatorial files), bequeaths "all" her "pictures" to Susan Hand, "of New York"; however, available evidence suggests that following the death of Lucilla Lawrence the portrait remained within the Lawrence family.

[4] Provenance information is provided by a card (signed and dated "W[illiam]. L[awrence]. March 1923"), formerly attached to the frame of the painting, now in NGA curatorial files.

[5] The names of the children as they signed the deed of gift to NGA are as follows: Rev. Frederic C. Lawrence, Marian L. Peabody, Elinor L. Mills, Sarah Lawrence Slattery, W. Appleton Lawrence, Julia L. Fearey, and Ruth Lawrence Reed.

Associated Names

Lawrence, Amos
Lawrence, Francis W.
Lawrence, Lucilla T.
Lawrence, Nancy
Lawrence, Robert M.
Lawrence, William
Lawrence, William R.
Lawrence, William, Children of The Rt. Rev.

Exhibition History

1845: Probably Nineteenth Exhibition of Paintings and Statuary, Boston Athenaeum, 1845, no. 24.

1861: Thirty-Seventh Exhibition of Paintings and Statuary, Boston Athenaeum, 1861, no. 354.

1862: Thirty-Eighth Exhibition of Paintings and Statuary, Boston Athenaeum, 1862, no. 45.

1985: A Truthful Likeness: Chester Harding and His Portraits, National Portrait Gallery, Washington, D.C.; J. B. Speed Art Museum, Louisville, Kentucky, 1985, no. 38.

Technical Summary

The support is a medium-weight, plain-weave fabric that has been lined. The smooth and off-white ground layer is almost completely covered by subsequent paint applied in fluid to pastelike consistencies. Low impasto is found in the red, green, and yellow highlighted portions of the robe and rug (the latter area somewhat flattened during a past lining process), and a rich, dark glaze has been used in the black and dark red shadows. The varnish has become somewhat yellowed.

Bibliography

1856: Lawrence, William R., ed. Extracts from the Diary and Correspondence of the Late Amos Lawrence. Boston, 1856: viii.

1929: Harding, Chester. A Sketch of Chester Harding, Drawn by His Own Hand. Edited by Margaret E. White. New ed. Boston, 1929: 189, repro. opp. 190.

1943: Walker, John, and Macgill James. Great American Paintings from Smibert to Bellows 1729-1924. London and New York, 1943: 8, pl. 40.

1944: Richardson, Edgar P. American Romantic Painting. New York, 1944: 34, no. 58, repro.

1950: Flexner, James Thomas. "The Strange Case of Chester Harding." Antiques 57 (February 1950): 114, repro.

1952: Chester Harding 1792-1866. Exh. cat. Connecticut Valley Historical Museum. Springfield, Massachusetts, 1952: n.p.

1960: Mendelowitz, Daniel M. A History of American Art. New York, 1960: 282, repro. 281.

1963: Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. New York, 1963 (reprinted 1964 in French, German, and Spanish): 327, repro.

1969: American Paintings in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. 2 vols. Boston, 1969: 1:131.

1969: Gowans, Alan. "Painting and Sculpture." In Wendel D. Garrett, et al. The Arts in America: The Nineteenth Century. New York, 1969: 205, repro.

1970: American Paintings and Sculpture: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1970: 64, repro.

1979: Faison, S. Lane, Jr. Williams College Museum of Art: Handbook of the Collection. Williamstown, 1979: n.p.

1980: American Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1980: 168, repro.

1980: Wilmerding, John. American Masterpieces from the National Gallery of Art. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1980: 66, no. 14, color repro.

1981: Gerdts, William H. "Natural Aristocrats in a Democracy: 1810-1870." In Michael Quick, et al. American Portraiture in the Grand Manner, 1720-1920. Exh. cat. Los Angeles County Mus. of Art; Natl. Portrait Gallery, Washington, D.C. Los Angeles, 1981: 30.

1981: Williams, William James. A Heritage of American Paintings from the National Gallery of Art. New York, 1981: 88, color repro. 94.

1984: Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. Rev. ed. New York, 1984: 394, no. 565, color repro.

1985: Lipton, Leah. A Truthful Likeness: Chester Harding and His Portraits. Exh. cat. National Portrait Gallery, Washington, D.C.; J. B. Speed Art Museum, Louisville. Washington, D.C., 1985: 108-109, no. 38.

1988: Wilmerding, John. American Masterpieces from the National Gallery of Art. Rev. ed. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1988: 76, no. 15, color repro.

1991: American Paintings in the Detroit Institute of Arts. Vol. 1. New York, 1991: 1:115.

1992: American Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1992: 193, repro.

1994: Craven, Wayne. American Art: History and Culture. New York, 1994: 234, fig. 16.18

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: 253-256, color repro.