Portrait of a Gentleman

c. 1695/1710

Artwork overview

  • Medium

    oil on canvas

  • Credit Line

    Andrew W. Mellon Collection

  • Dimensions

    overall: 74.5 x 64 cm (29 5/16 x 25 3/16 in.)
    framed: 94 x 81.9 x 4.1 cm (37 x 32 1/4 x 1 5/8 in.)

  • Accession

    1947.17.64

Media for this artwork is unavailable and the object is not on view. See artworks now on view

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

(Rose M. [Mrs. Augustus] de Forest, New York); sold 29 November 1926 to Thomas B. Clarke [1848-1931], New York, as a portrait of Robert Johnson by Henrietta Johnston;[1] sold by Clarke's executors to (M. Knoedler & Co.), New York, from whom it was purchased 29 January 1936, as part of the Clarke collection, by The A.W. Mellon Educational and Charitable Trust, Pittsburgh; gift to NGA, 1947.
[1] According to 1928 Clarke exhibition catalogue annotated with information from files of M. Knoedler & Co., NY (copy in NGA curatorial records and in NGA library). The provenance from Colonel John Moore of South Carolina and New York, supplied by the dealer, de Forest, cannot be verified. See James W. Lane, memorandum of 21 April 1951, in NGA curatorial files.

Associated Names

Exhibition History

1928

  • A Loan Exhibition of Paintings by Early American Portrait Painters, The Century Association, New York, 1928, no. 12, as Robert Johnson by Henrietta Johnston.

  • 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, as Robert Johnson by Henrietta Johnston.

Bibliography

1927

  • Willis, Eola. "The First Woman Painter in America." International Studio 87 (July 1927): 13.

1928

  • Willis, Eola. "Henrietta Johnston, South Carolina Pastellist." Antiquarian 11 (1928): 46, repro.

1932

  • Sherman Frederick Fairchild. Early American Painting. New York and London, 1932: 14.

1970

  • American Paintings and Sculpture: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1970: 160, repro., as Portrait of a Man by American (?).

1980

  • American Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1980: 308, as Portrait of a Man by Unknown [Formerly Considered American].

1985

  • European Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1985: 411, repro., as Portrait of a Man by Unknown Nationality 18th Century.

1992

  • Hayes, John. British Paintings of the Sixteenth through Nineteenth Centuries. The Collections of the National Gallery of Art Systematic Catalogue. Washington, D.C., 1992: 292-293, repro. 293.

Inscriptions

falsely signed and dated, lower right: Henrietta Johnston Fecit Ao.1718

Wikidata ID

Q20177689

You may be interested in

Loading Results