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Lot 28W
Gilbert Stuart(1755-1828)Lady John Temple 50 x 37 3/4in
19 November 2018, 16:00 EST
New YorkSold for US$13,750 inc. premium
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Gilbert Stuart (1755-1828)
Lady John Temple
oil on canvas
50 x 37 3/4in
Painted in 1806.
oil on canvas
50 x 37 3/4in
Painted in 1806.
Footnotes
Provenance
The sitter.
Mrs. William Lambe Palmer (Augusta Grenville Temple), England, daughter of the above, by descent.
Elizabeth M.P. Palmer, England, daughter of the above, by descent.
Mrs. Edward Byam (Elizabeth Augusta Temple), cousin of the above, by descent.
Sir Grenville Temple Baronet, brother of the above, by descent.
Sir Grenville Leofric Temple Baronet, son of the above, by descent.
Sir Grenville Louis John Temple Baronet, son of the above, by descent.
Mr. Thomas Lindall Winthrop, Isle of White, England, cousin of Mrs. Edward Byam (Elizabeth Augusta Temple), acquired from the above, circa 1880.
Mrs. Joseph Grafton Minot, Esq. (Honora Elizabeth Temple Winthrop), Boston, Massachusetts, daughter of the above, by descent, by 1891.
Mr. Joseph Grafton Winthrop Minot, son of the above, by descent, by 1914.
Mr. William Amory Gardner Minot, Greenwich, Connecticut, step-brother of the above, by descent, by 1937.
M. Knoedler & Co., New York, 1942.
Exhibited
Boston, Massachusetts, Museum of Fine Arts, March 19, 1914-December 28, 1916.
Boston, Massachusetts, Museum of Fine Arts, May 19, 1919-October 24, 1924.
Boston, Massachusetts, Museum of Fine Arts, February 5-September 16, 1925.
Boston, Massachusetts, Museum of Fine Arts, February 11, 1927-October 26, 1928.
Boston, Massachusetts, Museum of Fine Arts, December 27, 1937-October 2, 1942.
Literature
L. Park, Gilbert Stuart: An Illustrated Descriptive List of His Work, New York, 1926, vol. II, pp. 744-45, no. 828; vol. IV, p. 514, no. 828, illustrated.
The sitter Elizabeth Bowdoin (1750-1809), was the daughter of the Honorable James Bowdoin (1726-1790), Governor of Massachusetts, and Elizabeth (Erving) Bowdoin, of Boston. She married Sir John Temple, also of Boston, but raised in England, in 1797. According to Lawrence Park, the present work is believed to be an enlarged copy by Stuart from his original portrait of Lady Temple, executed in the same year. It was painted to correspond in size with a portrait of her husband, painted by John Trumbull (1756-1843), circa 1794. (L. Park, Gilbert Stuart: An Illustrated Descriptive List of His Work, New York, 1926, vol. II, p. 744) This second canvas by Stuart, as compared to the original, is far grander in scale and composition. While she wears similar garments, she is now seen in three-quarter format exposing clasped hands which rest on the skirt of her floor-length black velvet dress. She sits atop a gilt Empire armchair upholstered in red fabric. The sitter is flanked by two Tuscan columns, draped in curtains trimmed with gold fringe, cords and tassels. Blue sky is shown in the far distance at right and left.