J. Thompson Willing

“ Fortunate has been the nation that has known its heroic founders through the medium of Stuart’s picturing. Indeed, much of our modern regard for those heroes has been engendered by these dignified yet very human presentments. ”

“ The Gibbs-Channing portrait, now in the Metropolitan Museum, New York, is the finest in facial modeling. Stuart made many replicas of the few Washingtons he painted from life—especially was this so of the Athenæum head. Much controversy has arisen as to which of the many Washington portraits is the most accurate. The fact of the absolute dimensions of any feature is of little moment to later generations. ”

“ John Trumbull’s standing, like Peale’s, is attained largely on his renderings of Washington. He had much opportunity for observing the general, and this contributed much to the accuracy of his compositions, but little to the fineness of his art. He is fortunate in having many of his works gathered together in the Yale School of Fine Arts; for in the aggregation they are impressive, as being a dignified and graphic presentment of the important events of the Revolutionary period. These canvases are not large. Indeed, much of his work was in the nature of miniatures in oil. ”

“ Allston as a boy showed unusual ability for drawing, and he was fortunate in finding in Newport two friends to assist and encourage him. In particular there was a boy named Malbone, two years his senior, who was already beginning to paint miniatures, and in after years became known as Edward G. Malbone, a famous painter of portraits. The friendship with Malbone had much influence on Allston’s nature. They remained good friends through life, and gave to each other and took from each other the riches of sympathy and understanding that lie in an art kinship. ”

“ We know Washington today as Trumbull and Stuart have painted him, and Stuart has been aptly called the “prime painter to the president.” According to an anecdote, Stuart was said to regard Washington as his own particular subject, and valued him as any workman might a “pay envelope.” Whenever he lacked in income he could always paint a “Washington head” and get his price for it. Gilbert Stuart was born at North Kingston, Rhode Island, in December, 1755. He studied at Newport for awhile, then in 1775 he went to England and studied under Benjamin West. ”

“ He was twenty-three years old before he began to study art. His first teacher was a Swedish painter, Hessellius. Peale’s progress was rapid. He sought out the master painter, John Singleton Copley, in Boston, studied under him for three years, then went to London and became a pupil of Benjamin West. In 1770 he established himself in Philadelphia, and his studio soon became famous. Two years after he reached Philadelphia he painted a three-quarter-length picture of Washington in the uniform of a Virginian military colonel. This is the earliest known portrait of the great commander. ”

“ The Colonial official, the landowner, the merchant, all wished to emulate in little the great folk of the Old World, and have family portraits. The craftsmen to supply the demand were few, and the quality of their art far from fine. ”

“ By Copley, in Boston Museum of Fine Arts.
In England, Benjamin West, who had gone there about his twenty-fifth year, was painting biblical and mythological subjects, inspired by his stay in Italy; for Italy was yet the field for art inspiration. He received extended patronage from King George, and succeeded Reynolds as president of the Royal Academy. “Christ Healing the Sick,” in the Philadelphia Hospital, and the “Death on the Pale Horse,” in the Pennsylvania Academy, are two of his best known works in America. ”

“ And not only in painting but in writing he showed great ability. Coleridge, who was for years a close friend, pronounced him a leader in the art and thought of his time.
Allston was elected an associate of the Royal Academy in 1819, after having just returned to America. He spent the remaining years of his life in Boston and in Cambridge, where he died in July, 1843. His paintings are to be seen in a number of the prominent galleries of this country and England. The most celebrated of them are religious in nature. ”

“ We feel in Copley’s canvases a very modern quality, and in most of Stuart’s, but not in Allston’s.
ELIZABETH PATTERSON, MME. JEROME BONAPARTE
By Stuart.
VANDERLYN AND SULLY
A more modern man, though not so celebrated, was John Vanderlyn, a native of Kingston, New York, who spent many years in Paris. He had aspiration after beauty for its own sake. His Ariadne, owned by the Pennsylvania Academy, was really the first important nude painted here. Such subjects in those days caused much protest. This artist’s life was a stern struggle against adverse conditions ”

“ In those prephotographic days records were desired of the appearance of people who were gradually coming into an easier mode of living than their ancestors, the hardy pioneers, had been able to acquire. ”

“ He produced many portraits of celebrated men, and many historic paintings that still hold leading places in the national art of America.
In 1794 Trumbull acted as secretary to John Jay in London during the negotiations for the treaty between America and Great Britain. He was a man of prominence in public life, a leader in art in both England and America. He was president of the American Academy of Fine Arts from 1816 until 1825, and he died in New York, November 10, 1843. ”