Lot Essay
According to family tradition, this portrait miniature of George Washington was painted by Gilbert Stuart for Colonel James Swan, a financier and native of Boston who served in the American Revolution and later as agent of the French Republic. Swan spent several years of his post-Revolutionary career living in France. Swan lived in Paris from 1787 to 1795 and again from 1798 until his death in 1830. He returned to America briefly from 1795 to 1798.
A document found among Gilbert Stuart's papers at his death in 1828 was inscribed, "Philadelphia, April 20, 1795," and listed subscribers who had ordered likenesses of Washington from the artist and included Colonel Swan:
List of Gentleman who are to have copies of the portrait of the President of the United States... Marquis of Lansdowne, 1; Lord Viscount Cremor, 1; B. West, Eng. P.R.A., 1...J.Swan, Esq., 1...("Gilbert Stuart Called Washington his $100 Bill," Providence Sunday Journal, (July 2, 1933), p. 3.
This publication accounts for at least thirty-three individuals who requested 191 likenesses of the first President. This order could not have been readily filled by the artist within that year. While this document does not shed any light on when the portrait might have been completed for Swan, or if it was, it does attest to the enormous number of Washington portraits ordered from Stuart within a single given year that were not drawn from life.
Gilbert Stuart (1755-1828) is best known for his prolific marketing of Washington likenesses and for the degree to which these images were copied. Stuart painted his first portrait of Washington in Philadelphia in 1796. Given Washington's popularity during his Presidency, and even greater regard after his death in 1799, portraits of the first President were in heavy demand and were executed by several artists in addition to Stuart. In order to fulfill the public need for likenesses of Washington, Stuart not only copied his own portraits as his needs required, but so did many other artists. This practice continued well after Washington's death, almost uninterrupted to the end of the first quarter of the nineteenth century, and resumed somewhat with America's centennial in 1876.
The framing manner on the miniature illustrated here suggests the portrait was probably done in the early 19th century. A fragment of newspaper adhered to the inside of the leather casing appears to have been published in Philadelphia. While no date is printed on this newspaper, one of the surviving columns of information alludes to a court case against Nicholas Biddle (1786-1844). The second President of the Bank of the United States, the most litigious years of Biddle's life were during the 1820s and 1830s. Accordingly, it is possible that this portrait miniature was completed by an unknown artist working in Philadelphia in the manner of Gilbert Stuart in the 1820s or early 1830s.
A document found among Gilbert Stuart's papers at his death in 1828 was inscribed, "Philadelphia, April 20, 1795," and listed subscribers who had ordered likenesses of Washington from the artist and included Colonel Swan:
List of Gentleman who are to have copies of the portrait of the President of the United States... Marquis of Lansdowne, 1; Lord Viscount Cremor, 1; B. West, Eng. P.R.A., 1...J.Swan, Esq., 1...("Gilbert Stuart Called Washington his $100 Bill," Providence Sunday Journal, (July 2, 1933), p. 3.
This publication accounts for at least thirty-three individuals who requested 191 likenesses of the first President. This order could not have been readily filled by the artist within that year. While this document does not shed any light on when the portrait might have been completed for Swan, or if it was, it does attest to the enormous number of Washington portraits ordered from Stuart within a single given year that were not drawn from life.
Gilbert Stuart (1755-1828) is best known for his prolific marketing of Washington likenesses and for the degree to which these images were copied. Stuart painted his first portrait of Washington in Philadelphia in 1796. Given Washington's popularity during his Presidency, and even greater regard after his death in 1799, portraits of the first President were in heavy demand and were executed by several artists in addition to Stuart. In order to fulfill the public need for likenesses of Washington, Stuart not only copied his own portraits as his needs required, but so did many other artists. This practice continued well after Washington's death, almost uninterrupted to the end of the first quarter of the nineteenth century, and resumed somewhat with America's centennial in 1876.
The framing manner on the miniature illustrated here suggests the portrait was probably done in the early 19th century. A fragment of newspaper adhered to the inside of the leather casing appears to have been published in Philadelphia. While no date is printed on this newspaper, one of the surviving columns of information alludes to a court case against Nicholas Biddle (1786-1844). The second President of the Bank of the United States, the most litigious years of Biddle's life were during the 1820s and 1830s. Accordingly, it is possible that this portrait miniature was completed by an unknown artist working in Philadelphia in the manner of Gilbert Stuart in the 1820s or early 1830s.