THE WORLD OF SAMUEL MEEKER, MERCHANT OF PHILADELPHIA, AND GILBERT STUART, AMERICAN PORTRAIT ARTIST

Friday, February 27, 2009

I knew.....then.....


... that my portrait was done by Gilbert Stuart. It had been a long journey, I had known Absolutely Nothing about pre-post-revolutionary painters.
The family thought that the Portrait was done by Peale (more about this later.)
When I saw this painting (online), there could no longer be any doubt.

Pictured is Edward Stow; 1768-1847.

From Lawrence Park (see entry Feb 20)
A son of Edward and Mary (Belcher) Stow of Boston, but was born in New York City. He married, in 1793, Anna Brewer Peck, and lived for some years in Philadelphia. It was there that he met Gilbert Stuart and his wife and a great friendship ensued. In 1804 he returned to Boston, and from 1813 until shortly before his death, he was clerk or secretary of the new England Mississippi Land Company.
This portrait according to Park was done in 1802-3; this is further confirming evidence that the Portrait of Samuel Meeker was done in the same time frame, and in Philadelphia. The painting style, arrangement, accents (upholstered chair, drapes, papers), color; all strikingly & substantially, the same.

4 comments:

Tess Kincaid said...

Intriguing! Same chair, red drape and peek at the sky. (I am so loving this!!)

emikk said...

Whole lotta good painting goin' on here. They especially know how to put color in their cheeks. Maybe back then people had more color making people these days to pale in comparison!

Anonymous said...

Bravo! Please be sure to register the information with the Smithsonian Institute's
Art Inventories Catalogue at

http://siris-artinventories.si.edu

This is something so historical that I hope you will be in contact with the National Portrait gallery's Ellen Miles,PhD

StimmeDesHerzens said...

David, who are you?
Ellen Miles knows of the painting, as does Carrie Barratt.

 
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