| Maker(s): | Stuart, Gilbert
| | Culture: | American (1755 - 1828)
| | Title: | Henrietta Elizabeth Frederica Vane (ca. 1773-1807)
| | Date Made: | 1783
| | Type: | Painting
| | Materials: | oil on canvas
| | Place Made: | United States
| | Measurements: | stretcher: 65 7/8 x 38 5/8 in.; 167.3225 x 98.1075 cm
| | Narrative Inscription: | unsigned, undated
| | Accession Number: | SC 1957.39
| | Credit Line: | Gift in memory of Jessie Rand Goldthwait (Jessie Rand, class of 1890), by her husband, Dr. Joel E. Goldthwait, and daughter, Mrs. Charles Lincoln Taylor (Margaret Rand Goldthwait, class of 1921)
| | Museum Collection: | Smith College Museum of Art
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Currently on view |
Description:
girl; costume/uniform; portrait; landscape; flower; outdoor
Label Text:
Gilbert Stuart was the foremost American portraitist of his time, whose painting of George Washington served as the model for the image which appears on the American one dollar bill. Born and raised in Rhode Island, he spent much of his career in London, before returning to the United States. This painting, of ten year-old Henrietta Elizabeth Frederica Vane, is a rare full-length portrait of a child, painted just after he had left Benjamin West's London studio to set out on his own.
Stuart's brushwork is at its most refined in this child's alert face. The warm tones of the landscape harmonize with her salmon-rosy cheeks. Stuart rendered the painting in his studio, creating the landscape from his imagination rather than direct observation. He often kept backgrounds sketchy, suggesting: "Too much parade in the background [is]...very apt to fatigue by constant shifting of attention."
Other label: Gilbert Stuart was the foremost American portraitist of his time. In fact, his painting of George Washington was the model for the image on the American dollar bill. Born and raised in Rhode Island, he worked in London from 1777 to 1787, during the Revolutionary War.
While in England, Stuart received a commission from Charles Vane to paint this portrait of his ten-year-old daughter, Henrietta. When Stuart exhibited it, a critic commented, “This is upon the whole the most elegant picture of this artist.” Observing the sketchiness of the background, however, he cautioned, “Mr. Stuart is to be praised for facility; let him take care it does not degenerate into slightness. Too much dispatch is a dangerous thing in a rising artist.”
Link to share this object record:
https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=SC+1957.39 |
