Label Type
Mystery MondayLabel
Today’s Mystery Monday is in honor of the 4th of July holiday. It is a 1926 engraving by Timothy Cole (1852-1931) of a famous portrait. Can you name the sitter and original painter?
The answer is President Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826) sitting for painter Gilbert Stuart (1755-1828). Gilbert Stuart was one of the first generation of professional painters in the United States along with the Peale family. Stuart was born in the colony of Rhode Island into a mercantile family. He showed artistic promise from a young age, learning drawing from an enslaved man named Neptune Thurston (n.d.). Stuart later claimed, “Neptune was my first master. The first idea I ever had of painting the human features, I received from seeing that old African draw a face.”
He traveling to England to study painting in 1775 at the outbreak of the Revolutionary War because there were no art schools and few professional artists in the colonies at that time. This is despite evidence that he supported independence (an attitude he likely kept quiet during his time in London). While abroad he was mentored by Anglo-American painters Benjamin West (1738-1820) and John Singleton Copley (1738-1815). Stuart remained in England for the duration of the Revolutionary War but did eventually return to the United States of America in 1793. He established himself as the premier portrait painter of the new republic, painting the likenesses of many of the Founding Fathers as well as the first six Presidents and their families. In all he painted over 1,000 portraits and made dozens of copies of his most famous works including the Athenaeum portrait of George Washington used on the dollar bill. While painting, he often put the sitters at ease telling funny stories and engaging in debates which lent to relaxed, natural compositions and psychological depth to his subjects. Despite his popularity and prodigious output, Stuart often found himself deeply in debt, having to move to avoid creditors and leaving many portraits unfinished. Following his death in Boston, he was buried in an unmarked pauper’s grave.
Timothy Cole was born in England before emigrating to the United States with his family at the age of five. There is no record of his education or artic training, but it is known that he operated an engraving studio in Chicago in the late 1860s. Following the Great Chicago Fire in 1871, he lost everything and decided to move to New York City where he was employed by the magazine Century. He worked as a wood engraver, carefully carving hardwood blocks using sharp chisels known as burins. The work is time-consuming, exacting, and extremely difficult. Despite cheaper reproductive technologies such as photography becoming increasingly prevalent, Cole maintained a reputation for excellence and his work was in great demand throughout his life. He was particularly noted for his ability to capture the likenesses of Old Master paintings. You can see the quality of Cole’s lines clearly in this print especially by comparing the soft, smoke-like treatment of the foliage on the left side of the image and the rigid lines incised on the column in the center. This piece is truly a masterclass on the abilities of a first-rate engraver. He possibly produced this work to mark the centenary of Jefferson’s death.
Thomas Jefferson was one of the authors of the Constitution, the nation’s first Secretary of State, a diplomat, and the third President of the United States of America. His vision of a new democratic republic based on liberty, freedom, and equality shaped our nation. Yet like several of the Founding Fathers, Jefferson supported the institution of slavery and made his wealth off the unpaid labor of enslaved persons. He also carried on a decades long relationship with Sally Hemings (ca. 1773-1835), the enslaved half-sister of his deceased wife, with whom he fathered six children. His children were not freed until after Jefferson’s death. It is imperative that we as citizens today celebrate the vision of our nation and continue to strive to do better than those that came before us. Happy 4th of July everyone!
Title: Engraving of Portrait of Thomas Jefferson
Artists: Thomas Cole (1852-1931), American, born England
After Gilbert Stuart (1755-1828), American
Date 1926
Medium: Ink, paper
Technique: Engraving
Accession number: 1981.06.14