Thomas Sully
Robert Gilmor, Jr.
1822
Physical Qualities
Oil on canvas, Framed: 37 3/4 x 32 1/4 x 3 5/8 in. (95.9 x 81.9 x 9.2 cm) Sight: 28 3/4 x 24 1/2 in. (73 x 62.2 cm)
Credit Line
Purchase with exchange funds from Gift of Albert Hendler, Bernard R. Hendler, Bernice Hendler Kolodny and Florence Hendler Trupp
Object Number
1960.43
During an extended stay in London in 1817, Baltimore native Robert Gilmor, Jr. (1774-1848), one of America's earliest art collectors, engaged Sir Thomas Lawrence, president of the Royal Academy, to paint portraits of himself and his wife. Six years later, in the spring of 1823, Thomas Sully paid a visit to Baltimore. Gilmor was too busy to pose, so at his direction, Sully painted this copy of the Lawrence original.
Probably, Robert Gilmor, Baltimore; Jane Cooper Sully Darley, Philadelphia, artist's daughter; to her son, Francis Thomas Suly Darley, Philadelphia; to his wife, Cecilia Darley: J. Purvis Carter; George Tod Ford, 1903; to his wife, Caroline Parsons Ford, Wash-ington, D.C.; Joseph Katz, Baltimore, 1956; Victor Spark, New York EXHIBITIONS: PM, Baltimore, Second Annual Exhibition, 1823, no. 141 lowned by R. Gilmor); PM, Baltimore, Rendezvous for Taste, Feb. 24-Apr. 22, 1956, p. 31, no. 123 (lent by Mr. Joseph Katz)
PM, Baltimore, "Second Annual Exhibition," 1823, no. 141 (owned by R. Gilmor); PM, Baltimore, "Rendezvous for Taste," Feb. 24-Apr. 22, 1956, p. 31, no. 123 (lent by Mr. Joseph Katz)
Wendy A. Cooper "Classical Taste in America 1800-1840". Baltimore, MD: Baltimore Museum of Art; New York: Abbeville Press, 1993, page 38.
Justin Wolff, 'Richard Caton Woodville: American Painter, Artful Dodger,' Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2002, 43, ill.
Wayne Craven, 'American Art: History and Culture,' London: Laureance King Publishing Ltd., 2003, p.144, ill. no. 10.10.
Fisher, Jay McKean, et al. "The Essence of Line: French drawings from Ingres to Degas." University Park, PA: Pennsylvania State University Press, 2005, p. 39, ill.
Inscribed: on reverse, /L. J/L. Jrence/ 1823/...)
