Evening star., 1937-01-23

MalbOne TO LONDON In l6Ul ana Stuuleo
under West, travelled In Italy. re-
turned to this country, went back to
England, taking with him s. F. B.
Morse as a pupil, and finally estab-
lished himself in Cambridge, Mass,
where he painted and enjoyed vogue
until his death in 1843. This picture
was painted in Boston in 1927, and,
oddly enough, gives chief place not
to Gilbert Stuart, who is seated with
his back to the observer, but to ALL
ston, who is prominently seated in
front of Mrs. Stuart, with palette and
brushes in hand. Standing around
Stuart are his, three daughters, Anne
Stuart, Mrs, Stebbins. holding her
small child in her arms, and Jane
Stuart, while to the left is seen
group of three men, Mr.. Stebbins,
Gilbert Stuart Newton and third,
unidentified. On the wall is por-
trait of a deceased son, Charles.
Likewise famous is the painting OF
'The Washington Family" by Edward
Savage, well known through repeated
reproduction, which was painted from
life-some say at Mount Vernon. others
in Philadelphia, between 1889 and
1895. In it are shown George Wash
ington, in uniform. and Mrs. Wash
ington in satin gown and ribbon
trimmed lace cap, seated on either
side of a small table on which lies
spread out a map: Eleanor Parke
Gusts stands beside her grandmother,
George Washington Parke Gusts
beside Gen. Washington, while in
the somewhat shadowy background,
Billy" the black boy, stands in re-
spectful attention. Beyond a looped
curtain are seen sky, foliage and, pre-
sumably a view of the Potomac River.
The majority OF the paintings in
this collection are single figures,
painted with no other purpose than
that of portraiture, and painted so
extraordinarily well, when the con-
ditions of the country, the poverty
of material and the lack of instruction
are considered, that they seem little
short of miraculous. Works by 10 or
IL painters born before 1700 are in
cluded, among which appear the names
of four of one family, the Duyckincks,
the first of whom came to New Am
sterdam from Holland in 1888, was
a fire warden and a glass maker. as
we'll as a thinner" His son and
grandson followed in his footsteps,
ton as artists and citizens.
The earliest known portrait painted
in this country is that of Richard
Bellingham, Governor of Massachusetts,,
1641-1656 and 1665-1672, painted upon
his first appointment by one William
Read, a "mapmaker." and contained
in this collection.
OBVIOUSLY more competent and
more artistic are the works by
painters of the following century,
even such very early ones as Feke,
Theus, Claypole, Pine and Pratt.
Light is thrown upon the attitude OF
these painters-as we'll as some later
ones-toward their art by statement
made by Matthew Pratt, to the effect
that he had learned from his uncle,
James Claypole, "all the different
branches of the painting business,
particularly portrait painting" Paint
ing was a business in those days and
many of those who eventually rose to
distinction in the art advanced to 1t
from the crafts or from trade occu-
pations such as sign and coach paint
ing. But they bent all their efforts
to doing a job we'll and they must have
had instructive taste and feeling. Ger
tainly they did not stop to consider
whether or not they were socially
minded" and they wasted little time
in feeling their spiritual muscles or
seeking "self-expreSsion.'
Reviewing the history of art in
America in those early days, one can
not but be struck by the up-swinging
Of talent, the inception of which can
in no wise be traced, and the remark
able Towering under most adverse
circumstances There were giants in
those days, who appear even larger
in stature today when viewed across
more than a century than they prob
ably did when they walked the earth.
For instance, Benjamin West, Copley,
Stuart, Peale. Malbone and later
Fulton, Morse, Waldo, Sully, Harding,
Neagle and others. There are por-
traits by all of these included in the
catalogue of this collection. And
what is most interesting is that these
painters came from different localities,
New England, New York State, New
Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland and
South Carolina. Especially did por-
trait painting seem to have thrived
in the South.
A WORD as to those whose portraits
- were painted-the celebrities Of
the seventeenth, eighteenth, and in
some instances nineteenth centuries.
There are John Quincy Adams, paint
ed by Sully; Andrew jackson, by
Ralph Earl; Franklin Pierce, by Healy;
Clay, by Audobon; Marshall, by Lamb
din; Hawthorne, by Leutze, while Of
earlier vintage are Sir Peter Warren,
the first proprietor Of Greenwich VII
lage, by John Watson, who came to
the colonies in IT'S, and Frederick
Philipse, original owner of Philipse
Manor, Yonkers, painted in 1874, by
Henri Couturier, probably one OF the
Walloon refugees. Copley is repre-
sented by an early work, . portrait