LT. GOVERNOR PIERRE VAN CORTLANDT

Art

-

Historic Hudson Valley

Name/Title

LT. GOVERNOR PIERRE VAN CORTLANDT

Entry/Object ID

VC.58.189 a-b

Description

Portrayed here as an elderly gentleman, Pierre Van Cortlandt (1721-1814) was a businessman who headed the Westchester branch of the Van Cortlandt family from their manor house in Croton-on-Hudson. Several decades prior to this painting, Pierre risked his family, home, and social standing by joining the Patriot cause during the Revolutionary War. His political participation during that time includes serving in the Second, Third, and Fourth Provincial Congresses and being elected Lieutenant-Governor of New York, a position he held from 1777 to 1795. a. Portrait: elderly subject faces slightly to his left; balding head with wisps of gray hair falling to shoulders; pinkish but aging skin, brown eyes, bushy eyebrows; black coat with lapels, gray vest, white collar just visible; right hand holds cane; red upholstered chair and red drapery show slightly around subject; reddish background. b. Frame: Painted matte black, outer wider molding with inner narrower molding.

Artwork Details

Medium

Canvas, Oil Paint, Wood, Gesso, Gilt, Canvas, oil paint, wood, gesso, gilt

Subject Person or Organization

Pierre Van Cortlandt (1721-1814)

Collection

Van Cortlandt Manor Object Collection

Made/Created

Artist Information

Artist

John Wesley Jarvis

Attribution

Artist

Date made

circa 1810

Other Names and Numbers

Other Names

Name Type

Other Title

Other Name

Pierre Van Cortlandt (1721-1814)

Other Numbers

VC.58.189 A-B
VC.58.189

Dimensions

Dimension Description

Object

Height

34 in

Width

27-1/4 in

Dimension Notes

Display Dimensions: 34 x 27 1/4 in. (86.4 x 69.2 cm)

Dimension Description

Sight

Height

33 in

Width

27 in

Dimension Notes

Display Dimensions: 33 x 27 in. (83.8 x 68.6 cm)

Dimension Description

Framed

Height

39 in

Width

32 in

Dimension Notes

Display Dimensions: 39 x 32 in. (99.1 x 81.3 cm)

Condition

Notes

Remarks: There is a local area of lifting paint at bottom center. There is also a matt area in the varnish to the left of this site. The lifting will be consolidated with sturgeon glue and the varnish will be resaturated with MS2A. (Condition analysis and treatment proposal: Shawn Digney-Peer)

Notes

Remarks: Area of paint loss, right side, center; white accretion on figure's torso; other small, round white accretions lower left corner.

Notes

Overall Analysis: Condition Before Treatment: The painting has been treated in the past (probably by Sheldon Keck). The wax-resin lining is bellied out at the bottom, and there are draws at the top corners. There is a layer of somewhat discolored varnish and the surface is quite dull and dirty. Treatment: The stretcher was keyed out to bring the canvas back into plane. The existing varnish was removed with a 1:1 mixture of acetone and petroleum benzine. Some inpainting was removed at the same time. A first varnish necessary with dry pigments in polyvinyl acetate resin AYAC. A final varnish layer of Acryloid B-72 was sprayed. The painting was backed with Fome-cor, the metal edge stripping was resecured to the painting and it was resecured in the frame with brass straps.

Relationships

Related Person or Organization

Person or Organization

Pierre Van Cortlandt (1721-1814)

Notes

Subject

Person or Organization

Van Cortlandt Family

Notes

Former owner

General Notes

Note Type

Curatorial Remarks

Note

Downing gives a paragraph describing Pierre's patriotic activities and career. Before the Revolution, Governor Tyron had come to Pierre to urge his loyalty to the King. DeForest gives Pierre Van Cortlandt's activities in resume and they are repeated here for reference. In 1775 he was commissioned as colonel of the Third Westchester County Regiment. In the same year he served as a member of the Second Provincial Congress, in 1776, of the third and of the fourth in 1777. He was made president of the Congress and Chief of the Council of Safety. In July he was elected the first Lieutenant Governor of the State and the presiding officer of the State Senate, a post he held for eighteen years, until he declined re-election in 1795. (He served as both Lieutenant-Governor and Governor during the war while General George Clinton, Governor of the State, was busy with military matters.) On May 5, 1784, he was elected Vice-Chancellor of the University of the State of New York and in the same year was elected an honorary member of the New York State Society of the Cincinnati. Miscellaneous: Other likenesses of Pierre Van Cortlandt I: 1. There is also a miniature on paper by Henry Inman which was purchased by Harry Macneil Bland of New York from the Van Cortlandt Estate. 2. At the Yale University Art Gallery there is a portrait attributed to John Trumbull. Downing, p. 69. 3. a plaster bust was made from the Jarvis portraits by William Coffee (1818-1846) and several copies were recorded. See Downing, p. 70. 4. There is another very similar version by Jarvis (a copy by Jarvis?) at the Museum of the City of New York [not in online collection database, 71/2020].

Note Type

General Note

Note

Van Cortlandt family possession Based on the original cataloging, the original frame for this piece was/is "b. Frame: upright rectangle of molding; cyma recta edge, wide flat area splays inward, narrow inner cyma recta molding and flat area; gesso and gilt over wood." There are several notations in the object folder that the intention was for the frame to be replaced. As it now has non-gilded black wooden frame which has two different profiles in the same single molding, the frame has been replaced. [Jessa Krick, Associate Director of Collections, 7/21/2020].

Note Type

StorageNote

Note

Home Location: Historic Hudson Valley, Van Cortlandt Manor, Parlour Home Location: Historic Hudson Valley, Union Church, Storage, Unit 3 Slot 2