William Rogers
1804/1808
Painter, American, 1756 - 1843
Artwork overview
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Medium
oil on canvas
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Credit Line
-
Dimensions
overall: 77.5 x 63.5 cm (30 1/2 x 25 in.)
framed: 101.6 x 88.9 x 6.4 cm (40 x 35 x 2 1/2 in.) -
Accession
1947.17.13
Artwork history & notes
Provenance
The sitter's adopted daughter, Anne Béloste Taylor [Mrs. James Taylor, d. 1832], Albany, New York;[1] her daughter, Maria Taylor Hunt [Mrs. Ward Hunt, d. 1912], Utica, New York;[2] her nephew, Maunsell Van Rensselaer [1859-1952] and his wife, Isabella Mason Van Rensselaer [1861-1955], Albany and Huntington, New York;[3] (D.B. Butler & Co., New York); sold 16 April 1921 to Thomas B. Clarke [1848-1931], New York;[4] 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] Isabella Van Rensselaer, affidavit for D.B. Butler & Co., New York, 17 February 1921 (NGA), and letter, 3 June 1949 (NGA). The date of Mrs. Taylor's death is found in "Gravestone Records from Old Burying Ground, Orange, Essex County", Genealogical Magazine of New Jersey 4, no. 1 (July 1928): 161.
[2] Henry T. Tuckerman, Book of the Artists: American Artist Life Comprising Biographical and Critical Sketches of American Artists, 1867, reprint, New York, 1966, and John F. Weir, John Trumbull, A Brief Sketch to Which is Added a Catalogue of His Works, New York, 1901, list Ward Hunt, rather than his wife, as the owner of the portrait. This is not unusual; mid-nineteenth-century authors often listed the husbands as the owners of family portraits that undoubtedly came from their wives' families. Only two "family portraits" are listed in the inventory of Mrs. Hunt's estate that is appended to her will (Surrogate's Court, Oneida County, New York; copy, NGA). These were probably the portraits of Lawrence Yates and his wife Matilda Cruger; see 1942.8.13, Matilda Caroline Cruger by an unidentified painter. The painting of Rogers could be one of the "7 pictures with frames" in the same inventory.
[3] Isabella Van Rensselaer, letter dated 3 June 1949 (NGA). The life dates of the Van Rensselaers were provided by the Albany Cemetery Association, Albany Rural Cemetery, Albany, New York, letter of 5 December 1989 (NGA).
[4] The name of the seller and the date of purchase are recorded in a copy of Portraits by Early Amerian 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). The date of Mrs. Van Rensselaer's affidavit (see n. 1) suggests that she and her husband either consigned or sold the portrait to Butler immediately prior to its sale to Thomas B. Clarke.
Associated Names
Exhibition History
1922
Portraits Painted in the United States by Early American Artists, The Union League Club, New York, February 1922, no. 14.
1926
A Loan Exhibition of Paintings by Early American Portrait Painters, The Century Association, New York, 1926, no. 2.
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.
1949
American Paintings from the Collection of the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1949.
Exhibition of Early American Portraits on Loan from the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., Pack Memorial Public Library, Asheville, North Carolina, 1949, no. 7.
1951
American Paintings from the Collection of the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1951.
1953
American Paintings from the Collection of the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1953.
1955
Famous Americans, Washington County Museum of Fine Arts, Hagerstown, Maryland, 1955, no cat.
1956
John Trumbull, Painter-Patriot, Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford, 1956, no. 91.
1960
Faces of America, Inaugural Exhibition, El Paso Museum of Art, Texas, 1960-1961, no cat.
1969
Inaugural Exhibition: American Portraits, The Art Museum, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina, 1969, no cat.
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., 1974-1990.
Bibliography
1867
Tuckerman, Henry T. Book of the Artists. New York, 1867: 94, 628.
1901
Weir, John F. John Trumbull, A Brief Sketch to Which Is Added a Catalogue of His Works. New York, 1901: 79.
1922
Portraits Painted in the United States By Early American Artists. Exh. cat. Union League Club, New York, 1922: no. 14.
Sherman, Frederic Fairchild. "John Trumbull's Portrait of William Rogers." Art in America 10, no. 6 (October 1922): 259, repro. 260.
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.
1931
Bolton, Theodore, and Harry Lorin Binsse. "Trumbull, `Historiographer' of the Revolution." The Antiquarian 17, no. 1 (July 1931): 56.
1949
Early American Portraits on Loan From the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., Exh. cat. Pack Memorial Public Library, Asheville, North Carolina, 1949: no. 7.
Sizer, Theodore. "A Tenative ` Short-Title' Check-List of the Works of Col. John Trumbull. Part III." The Art Bulletin 31 (March 1949): 25.
1956
John Trumbull, Painter-Patriot, Exh. cat. Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford, 1956: no. 91.
1967
Sizer, Theodore. The Works of Colonel John Trumbull. Rev. ed. New Haven and London, 1967: 62.
1970
American Paintings and Sculpture: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1970: 116, repro.
1980
American Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1980: 250, repro.
1992
American Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1992: 369, 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: 306-308, repro. 307.
Wikidata ID
Q20181871