Docent Handbook - Artist Fact Sheet

Artist Name: SULLY, THOMAS Date: 1783-1872 Nationality: American, born English Title/Date: The Student (Rosalie Kemble Sully), 1848 Size: 30 ½ x 26 ¼ inches Medium: Oil on canvas Gallery Location: 4th Floor, Gallery 2

Salient Characteristics of this Work: - Portrait of the artist’s daughter, Rosalie Kemble Sully (1818-1847) - Rosalie was also an artist, a painter of miniatures, having been tutored by her father - Began on November 5th, 1848 and completed on December 18th, according to Sully’s record book - Three portraits of Rosalie as a student exist, another version completed in 1937, before her death at age 29 - Seated, resting figure with crossed hands on portfolio, holding pencil; lampshade casts shadow over face; elongated neck is characteristic of the romantic style

Information Narrative: - 1783, born to actors in Horncastle, Lincolnshire, England - 1792, emigrated to the U.S. with his family and settled in Charleston, South Carolina - 1799, moved to Virginia to live with his older brother Lawrence, a painter of miniatures - 1804, Lawrence died and Sully took up the care of his brother’s widow, Sarah, and three young children - 1806, married Sarah and moved to New York because marriage to a brother’s widow was illegal in Virginia - 1807, moved with Sarah to Philadelphia - 1809, became an American citizen and then departed for England to study painting for about nine months with Benjamin West - 1812, elected to honorary membership to the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Art; served on its board from 1816 to 1832 - 1872, died in Philadelphia - Most well-known for his beautiful portraits of women done in an idealized or romantic style with elongated necks, and peaches and cream tones; although romanticized, his portraits have a quality of realism which is evident in The Student - Wrote in his Hints to Young Painters: “From long experience I know that resemblance in a portrait is essential, but no fault will be found with the artist (at least by the sitter) if he improve the appearance” - Completed over 2,000 portraits in his career, as well as about 600 genre and historical scenes which he called “fancy pictures” - Commissioned by the North Carolina Legislature for Washington Crossing the Delaware; it was too large for the space and now resides in the Boston Museum of Fine Art - First superintendent of the Branch Mint, John Hill Wheeler, was married to Rosalie’s sister, Ellen Oldmixon Sully (she was his second wife)

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Fabian, Monroe H. Mr. Sully, Portrait Painter: The Works of Thomas Sully (1783-1872) National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institute Press, Washington, 1983.

Biddle, Edward and Fielding, Mantle. The Life and Works of Thomas Sully. De Capo Press, New York, 1970.

-Brenda McKay, Docent 1996