<<

PORTRAITS BY

JUNE 29 TO AUGUST l • 1936

AT THE GALLERIES OF

M. KNOEDLER & COMPANY

NEWPORT

As A contribution to the Newport Tercentenary observation we feel that in no way can we make a more fitting offering than by holding an exhibition of paintings by . Nar- ragansett was the birthplace and boyhood home of America's greatest artist and a Newport celebration would be grievously lacking which did not contain recognition of this. In arranging this important exhibition no effort has been made to give a chronological nor yet an historical survey of Stuart's portraits, rather have we aimed to show a collection of paintings which exemplifies the strength as well as the charm and grace of Stuart's work. This has required that we include portraits he painted in Ireland and England as well as those done in America. His place will always stand among the great portrait painters of the world.

1 GEORGE

Canvas, 25 x 30 inches. Painted, 1795. This portrait of , showing the right side of the face is known as the Vaughan type, so called for the owner of the first of the type, in contradistinction to the depicting the left side of the face. Park catalogues fifteen of the Vaughan por­ traits and seventy-four of the Athenaeum portraits. ", 1795. Canvas, 30 x 25 inches. Bust, showing the right side of the face; powdered hair, black coat, white neckcloth and linen shirt ruffle. The background is plain and of a soft crimson and ma­ roon color. "This portrait was painted for Alexander Scott (died 1810) of Lan­ caster, Pennsylvania. It was inherited by his widow, who sold it to Edward Brien (died 1816) of Mattocks Iron Works, Pennsylvania. At his death it passed to his widow (Dorothy Hand), who moved to Lancaster, and from her it was inherited by her daughter, the wife of Henry Rogers of Lancaster. Mrs. Rogers sold the portrait to Edward Reilly, who married her daughter, Anne Rogers of Trenton, New Jersey, and at his death it was inherited by his widow, who in 1907 sold it to Charles Allen Munn of , who bequeathed it to his sister, Augusta, wife of I. Sheldon Tilney, Esq., of Llewellyn Park, New Jersey. "(See 'Some Old-Time Lancaster Portraits of Washington,' by Judge C. I. Landis, published by the Lancaster Historical Society, February 2, 1917, Volume XXI, No. 2; also 'Three Types of Wash- ington Portraits' by Charles A. Munn, 1906; also, 'New York Sun,' January 21, 1917, 'Tracing Pedigrees of two Stuart's Washingtons' by )." —From "Gilbert Stuart" by Lawrence Park, Volume II, pages 847 and 848. EXHIBITED: Union League Club, New York. Yale Art School, New Haven, Con­ necticut. Gallery of Alexander Turney Stewart, New York. Metro­ politan Museum of Art, New York, July, 1924. Colony Club, New York, April, 1922, No. 11. Wilmington Society of Fine Arts, April, 1935, No. 2. San Francisco, 1935; REPRODUCED NO. 38 of catalogue. REPRODUCED: Half-tone, "International Studio," February, 1923, page 390. "Gilbert Stuart's Portraits of George Washington" by Mantle Fielding, 1923, facing page 20. "Life Portraits of George Washington" by John Hill Morgan and Mantle Fielding (1931), page 252 (facing); CATALOGUED No. 4. "Three Types of Washington Portraits" by Charles A. Munn, facing page 43.

2 MR. WILLIAM BAYARD Canvas, 28 x 36 inches. Painted about 1794. From Lawrence Park's "Gilbert Stuart," Volume I, page 142, No. 69, we quote the following: "... A son of Colonel William Bayard of Castle Point, New Jersey, and New York City, who was one of the loyalists mentioned by name in the Act of Attainder of 1784; he and his entire family, excepting young William Bayard, thereupon left New York and never returned. All the family property was confiscated. In 1782 William Bayard married Elizabeth, daughter of Samuel Cornell of New York, who had gone to Newberne, North Carolina. At the outbreak of the Revo­ lution Mr. Cornell was obliged to leave North Carolina and come under English protection to New York. William Bayard formed a partnership with Herman Le Roy, who married another daughter of Samuel Cornell, and started the business house of Le Roy, Bayard & Company, which was for many years one of the best known concerns of New York City."

REPRODUCED: "Gilbert Stuart" by Lawrence Park, Volume III, No. 69. 3 MRS. WILLIAM BAYARD Panel, 27 x 36 inches. Painted 1805-15. Mrs. Bayard was the daughter-in-law of the above mentioned William Bayard. REPRODUCED: "Art in America," June, 1933, page 85; MENTIONED in an article by William Sawitzky as follows: "The hitherto unrecorded Portrait of Mrs. William Bayard, Jr., born Catherine Hammond of North Caro­ lina. ... Early in 1926 this painting came into the possession of a de­ scendant, Mr. Howard Townsend of New York City, who up to that time had not known of its existence. It was, however, too late to in­ clude it in Park's book, which had just gone to press. The dates of Mrs. Bayard's birth and marriage do not seem to be known, but it is quite evident that the portrait was painted between the years 1805- 1815." EXHIBITED: Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1924 and 1925.

COLLECTIONS: The portrait was inherited by his daughter, Mrs. Duncan P. Campbell, and at her death became the property of her children, who by succes­ sive wills left it to Maria L. Campbell, the youngest and only surviv­ ing child. In 1912 the portrait was inherited by the present owner, Howard Townsend, Esq. of New York City, great-grandson of the subject.

4 THE RIGHT HONORABLE JOHN BERESFORD Canvas, 25 x 30 inches. Inscribed on label on back of stretcher: "The Right Honorable John Beresford of the Irish Government. Brother of the Archbishop of Tuam, the first Lord Decies. Painted by G. Stewart (Stuart), ENGRAVED by W Sharp, March 25th 1796." ENGRAVED in mezzotint by C. H. Hodges, published in 1790 by G. Cowan; also by W Sharp as mentioned in the above inscription. Right Hon. John Beresford was the second son of Marcus, first Earl of Tyrone, and Lady Catherine Baroness de la Poer. He was educated at Kilkenny and at Trinity College, Dublin, from where he was grad- uated in 1757, and called to the bar in 1790. In 1760 he married Con- stantia Ligondes of Auvergne, and in the same year, on the death of George II, he was elected to the Irish Parliament for Waterford. In 1766 he was appointed Privy Councillor and two years later one of the Commissioners of Revenue. His first wife having died in 1772, he married in 1774 Barbara Montgomery, daughter of Sir William Mont­ gomery, one of the three beautiful sisters painted by Sir in his celebrated picture, "The Three Graces Decorating Hymen," bequeathed to the London National Gallery in 1837. In 1780 Beresford became First Commissioner of Revenue and succeeded in obtaining an immense influence in Irish politics; he was in a sense "the power behind the throne." The Lord Lieutenant for the time being was the de facto ruler of Ireland, but Beresford's was the brain that planned improvements and watched that they were carried out. He enjoyed the confidence of William Pitt, Prime Minister of Eng­ land, and in 1786 was appointed Privy Councillor of England. Beres­ ford was one of the leading advocates for the union of the two coun­ tries in parliamentary matters. His "Correspondence," which was almost exclusively political, was published in 1854.

MENTIONED: "Paintings by Gilbert Stuart Not Mentioned in Mason's Life of Stuart" by Mantle Fielding in Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, July, 1914. "Dictionary of Irish Artists" by W G. Strick­ land, Volume II, page 413. REPRODUCED: "Gilbert Stuart" by Lawrence Park, Volume III. CATALOGUED Volume I, No. 77, pages 148 and 149. COLLECTIONS: The painting was inherited by the brother of the sitter, the Honorable & Rev. William Beresford, Archbishop of Tuam, created in 1812 Baron Decies and now comes from the great-great-grandson of the sitter. 5 MRS. ISAAC CHAUNCEY Panel, 21x26 inches. Mrs. Chauncey was the wife of Commander Isaac Chauncey, who was acting Captain of the Chesapeake in 1802, and later Commander of New York Navy Yard; from 1833 to 1840 he was the President of the Board of Navy Commissioners. EXHIBITED: The Union Club in 1934. Inherited by Mr. E. Chauncey Anderson, who was the great-great- grandson of the sitter; and is owned jointly with Mrs. Horatio C. Wood, III, who is also the present owner of the crescent pin worn by the subject of the picture. 6 COLONEL JOHN CHESNUT Canvas, 24/2 x 30 inches. Painted, 1800. Colonel John Chesnut was born in the Valley of Virginia, and later moved to South Carolina. He was a member of the convention to frame the Constitution, and later became a member of the Senate. In 1770 he married Sarah Cantey, daughter of Captain John Cantey, of Camden, South Carolina.

EXHIBITED: Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, at the Tercentenary Exhibition held March, 1936, No. 18. The picture comes from Miss Mary Brown of Camden, South Caro­ lina, who is great-granddaughter of the sitter. The picture has re­ mained in the possession of the family since it was painted.

7 THE RIGHT HONORABLE WILLIAM BURTON CONYNGHAM Canvas, 29% x 35% inches. Painted about 1789-90. William Burton, younger son of the Rt. Hon. Francis Burton of Bun- craggy, County Clare, M.P., and his wife, Mary, daughter of Major General Henry Conyngham of Slane, was born in 1733. He was Mem­ ber of Parliament for Newton Limavady in 1761 and for Kellybeggs in two subsequent Parliaments; Lieutenant Colonel of the 12th Regi­ ment of Dragoons which he resigned in 1775 on taking his place as Comptroller and Commissioner of the Barrack Board; in 1777, he was appointed Teller of the Exchequer in Ireland and a Member of His Majesty's Privy Council. In 1781, on inheriting at the decease of his uncle, Henry, Earl Conyngham, the family estates, County Donegal, and of Slane, Meath, he assumed the name and arms of Conyngham. In 1789 he was Vice Admiral of Ulster and a Governor of the County of Donegal and he was appointed one of the First Commissioners of the Board of Treasury in 1793, which post he held until his death. He died May 31st, 1796.

COLLECTION: Captain Robert Law of Rosnaree, Slane, County Meath, Ireland.

8 GENERAL (1749-1812) Canvas, 25 x 30 inches. Painted, 1794. General Gansevoort's ancestors were among the early Dutch settlers of Albany, New York. In 1775 Peter Gansevoort was appointed Major in the 2nd New York Regiment and immediately joined in the Montgomery campaign in Canada. He was soon appointed Lieutenant Colonel and within the same year was in command of Fort George. In 1776 he was promoted to Colonel and in 1777 he took command of Fort Schuyler, originally called Fort Stanwix. In 1777 having had Fort William put in his charge, he held it against a much larger force of British under St. Leger, and Indians. In 1781 New York State appointed him Brigadier General.

ENGRAVED: By Prud'homme and REPRODUCED in Bonney's, "Legacy of Historical Gleanings," Volume I, page 81; Winsor, "Narrative and Critical His­ tory," 1889, Volume VI, page 629; Fiske's "," 1896, Volume I, page 297; Baxter's, "Godchild of Washington," 1897, page 365.

REPRODUCED: In half-tone, "International Studio," September, 1920. "Gilbert Stuart" by Lawrence Park, Volume IV; CATALOGUED Volume I, No. 310.

EXHIBITED: , 1917, No. 93. Metropolitan Museum, 1918-1928.

MENTIONED: Mason, "Life and Works of Gilbert Stuart," 1879, page 182. The painting was inherited by the son of the sitter, Hon. Peter Ganse­ voort. It was next inherited by his daughter, Mrs. Abraham Lansing. It then passed to Roland N. Moore. 9 MRS. HUMPHREY DEVEREUX Panel, 21J4 x 26 % inches. Painted 1817. Eliza Dodge was the daughter of Israel and Lucia (Pickering) Dodge of Salem, . In 1809 she married Humphrey Devereux of Marblehead. He was a nephew of Elbridge Gerry, signer of the Declaration of Independence. He studied law but soon abandoned it and became a merchant in Salem. They lived for some time on the Continent. During the he was captured by the British and held prisoner in Bermuda for many months. On the back of the panel is to be found the following: "Portrait of Mrs. Eliza Devereux aged 31 years 10 mo. This picture was painted 29th Sept. 1817 by Gilbert Stewart (sic). The head from the upper part of the nose is thought a likeness—the lower part is wanting in resemblance. The figure is stiff much too erect and totally unlike. The figure from the ruff downward including drapery, painted anew by Chester Harding 1835."

REPRODUCED: "Pickering Genealogy" (1897) Volume I, facing page 275. "Gilbert Stuart" by Lawrence Park, Volume III, No. 24. CATALOGUED Volume I, No. 282. The painting was inherited by the daughter of the sitter, Marianne Cabot Devereux and at her death it passed to her son, William Edward Silsbee of .

10 SIR WILLIAM KIRKPATRICK Canvas, 24 x 29 inches.

EXHIBITED: Detroit Institute of Art, 1922.

REPRODUCED: "Gilbert Stuart" by Lawrence Park, Volume III. CATALOGUED Volume I, No. 466.

COLLECTION: Major Jonathan Kearsley. It was inherited by a grandson, Jonathan Kearsley Webster, and upon his death, by his wife. 11 WILLIAM GEORGE DIGGES LA TOUCHE, ESQ.

Canvas, 30 x 25 inches.

12 MRS. WILLIAM GEORGE DIGGES LA TOUCHE

Canvas, 30 x 25 inches.

William George was the eldest son of James Digges La Touche and his second wife, Matilda, daughter of William Thwaites, and was born in 1746. He was a grandson of that David Digues La Touche (1671-1745). He was educated at St. Paul's school, London, and at the age of eighteen accompanied Moore, the British Resident to Bassorah, as writer, and eventually succeeded him in the post of Resi­ dent. He was popular with both travelers and natives; in 1775 he ransomed the inhabitants of Zobier from the Persians at his own ex­ pense, thus saving them from slavery, and when Bassorah was besieged in the same year, he sheltered many of the citizens and their families in the English factory. He returned home in 1784, after an absence of twenty years, and soon afterwards married Grace, daughter of John Puget, an eminent London banker with whom the La Touche Bank had connections, and who was also a descendant of a Huguenot fam­ ily, a marriage which proved an uncommonly happy one. William then became a partner in the La Touche Bank, Dublin, his entry into the firm largely increasing its business owing to his London connec­ tion and to his own good character. He built the family mansion in St. Stephen's Green which was still in the possession of his grandson in 1868, and purchased a country house, Sans Souci, between the Blackrock and Stillorgan Roads, near Dublin. He had made a valuable collection of manuscripts while in Bassorah, and these he presented to the library of Trinity College, Dublin. He died in Dublin, November 7, 1803. The date of the death of Mrs. La Touche is not recorded, but she was still alive at the time of the death of her eldest son, James, Decem­ ber, 1826.

EXHIBITED: Opening Exhibition of the Springfield Museum of Arts, October- November, 1933. Nos. 5a & b. MENTIONED: In an article by William Sawitzky in Art in America, March, 1933, page 46. Portrait of Mrs. La Touche is REPRODUCED in same, page 43. REPRODUCED: (Portrait of Mrs. La Touche.) Baltimore Museum of Art News Rec­ ord, January, 1934. From the collection of Miss C. E Godfrey, great-great-granddaughter of the sitters.

13 ADMIRAL THE HONORABLE SIR THOMAS PAKENHAM, G.C.B. Canvas, 25 x 30 inches. Thomas Pakenham, third and youngest son of Thomas, 1st Lord Longford, was born September 29, 1757; entered the navy in 1771 and saw much service off the coast of North America and in one action was severely wounded; lost his ship, the Crescent, in 1781, but was honorably acquitted by court-martial; specially commended for his brilliant conduct in the battle of June 1, 1794; was appointed admiral 1810, and created Grand Cross of the Bath, 1820. After leav­ ing the navy, he was for some time Master General of the Ordnance in Ireland. He married June 24, 1785, Louisa, daughter of the Rt. Hon. John Staples, and had a large family, many of his eight sons distinguishing themselves in their careers. He died in Dublin, February 2, 1836, at the age of 78.

14 MRS. SAMUEL SWETT (1788-1844) Canvas, 27x33 inches. Painted in Boston, 1807. Mrs. Swett was Lucia, daughter of William and Elizabeth Gray of Salem. She married Samuel Swett, 1807. REPRODUCED: "Gilbert Stuart" by Lawrence Park, Volume IV; CATALOGUED Volume II, No. 817. The painting was inherited by her daughter Mrs. Francis Alexander of Florence, Italy; upon her death it was inherited by Esther Alex­ ander, who died in Florence in 1917. It now comes from John F. Braun, Esq. of Philadelphia. 15 MISS SARA LOUISE WEEMS Canvas, 24 J4 x 29% inches. Miss Weems was the daughter of William Lock Weems and Amelia Chapman of "Billingsley," Prince George County, Maryland. She was the first cousin of Dr. Nathaniel Chapman and Rebecca Biddle of Philadelphia. William Lock Weems was the older brother of Mason Lock Weems, called "Parson" Weems, who wrote the biographies of George Wash­ ington and . He was also a Justice of the Peace of Prince George County from 1776 to 1783.

EXHIBITED: Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, at the Rhode Island Tercentenary Exhibition held in March, 1936, No. 10.

16 CALEB WHITEFOORD (1734-1810) Canvas, 25 x 30 inches. Painted, 1782. Caleb Whitefoord was the only son of Colonel Charles Whitefoord (who figured in Scott's "Chronicles of the 'Canongate' and 'Waver- ly'"). He was graduated from University at the age of fourteen. He became a wine merchant in London, and in 1757 became, a friend of Benjamin Franklin. He later conducted peace negotiations with the American Commissioners. He was a member of Dr. John­ son's famous circle. He had a collection of pictures, one of which (the Reynolds, Nelly O'Brien) is now in the Wallace Collection. ENGRAVED: By William Holt. EXHIBITED: Royal Academy, London, 1782. REPRODUCED: In color, "International Studio," February, 1931. "Art News," March 14, 1931. The painting was in the COLLECTION of the Hon. Francis Burton Harri­ son, former Governor General of the Philippine Islands, and a great-nephew of . It then passed into the pri­ vate COLLECTION of Governor John G. Winant of New Hampshire.