Loading
George Washington (Vaughan-Sinclair portrait)
Gilbert Stuart1795
National Gallery of Art, Washington DC
Washington, DC, United States
Information on this painting can be found in the Gallery publication _American Paintings of the Eighteenth Century_, pages 206-208, which is available as a free PDF https://www.nga.gov/content/dam/ngaweb/research/publications/pdfs/american-paintings-18th-century.pdf
Show lessRead more
Details
- Title: George Washington (Vaughan-Sinclair portrait)
- Creator: Gilbert Stuart
- Date Created: 1795
- Physical Dimensions: overall: 73.8 x 61.1 cm (29 1/16 x 24 1/16 in.) framed: 92.7 x 80 x 9.5 cm (36 1/2 x 31 1/2 x 3 3/4 in.)
- Provenance: William Sinclair, Fort William, County Antrim, Ireland; his daughter, Elizabeth Sinclair May [Mrs. Edward May], Belfast; her son, George Augustus Chichester May [1815-1892], Belfast;[1] his son, Sir Edward Sinclair May [1856-1936], Rockbeare Court, Exeter, Devon;[2] (Colnaghi and Obach, London) in 1919; (M. Knoedler & Co., New York); sold November 1919 to Andrew W. Mellon, Pittsburgh;[3] deeded 28 December 1934 to The A.W. Mellon Educational and Charitable Trust, Pittsburgh; gift 1940 to NGA. [1] Information on the early ownership of the painting was provided on a label attached to the stretcher: "Portrait of General Washington painted by an Irish artist named Stewart for a public building in New York & sent by an American Gentleman as a present to William Sinclair of Belfast." Sir Edward Sinclair May identified the handwriting as that of his grandmother Elizabeth Sinclair May in his letter of 28 May 1919 to an unidentified correspondent (copy, NGA curatorial file). In a different writing on the label is the comment that the portrait was "Mentioned in Edmonds' 'Life of Washington,'" but Cyrus Edmonds, _Life and Times of General Washington_, 2 vols., London, 1835-1836 does not discuss the Vaughan image of Washington or this painting in particular. On Sinclair and May see the entry on May in _Dictionary of National Biography_, 66 vols., Oxford, 1890, reprinted in 22 vols., Oxford, 1963-1964, 13:140. [2] May's letter of 28 May 1919 to an unidentified correspondent inquires about the possible sale of the portrait (copy, NGA curatorial file); on May see _Burke's Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Landed Gentry_, 17th ed., London, 1952, 1746-1747. [3] Information on the ownership by Colnaghi and Obach and M. Knoedler & Co., and the sale to Andrew Mellon, was provided by Melissa de Medeiros, librarian, M. Knoedler & Co., in a letter dated 12 August 1992 (NGA curatorial file).
- Medium: oil on canvas
Get the app
Explore museums and play with Art Transfer, Pocket Galleries, Art Selfie, and more
