This document discusses several portraits and buildings from the colonial American period between the 16th and 18th centuries. It provides background information on the artists, subjects, and stylistic influences of the works. Some of the key points made include that early colonial portraits relied heavily on symbols to convey status and were influenced by contemporary British and Baroque styles; furniture and material culture reflected the values of colonial society; and as the colonial population grew more affluent, portraits placed greater emphasis on detailed depictions of clothing, accessories, and setting to indicate the subjects' wealth and social standing.

1. Rene Laudonniere and Native American
Chief at Ribault Column ca. 1570
● 10 x 7.5 in.

2. ● First painting of new world
● Work = lithograph (easier to transport)
● Column = center; noblemen = right
● Functions as map: NW on left, OW on right
● Cornucopia = brought by all; in foreground = visual
dominance = offerings of natives
● Low horizon line = typical of this period
– Shows vastness and expanse = We love land!
● Vibrancy + clarity, relies on symbols; fruit = fruit of
land

3. ● Column built in 1562 by Jean Ribault, a French navy
officer, explorer, and colonizer
● In Jax, FL! Statement to claim land 4 France
● Meant to document historical event but did Le Moyne
ever see it??
*About memory
● Natives naked = statement of uncivilized + kneeling =
no pwr
● Le Moyne settles in England;
● documenter of settler life

4. Jonathan Freake ca. 1671 3.5x3 ft
● Commissioned by sitter
● Wealthy lawyer associated with
John Calvin, who thought wealth
= assigned favor of God
● Not what you've done, but who
you are
● Hands awk, little modeling,
porcelain skin, glove = gentleman
● Buttons create balanced
composition & structure within
● Lace, broach, ring = overload of
wealth

5. Jonathan Freake cont.
● Sense of elegance conveyed
● No wig = no British association
● Imported fashions – distinguished from Brits + wrking class
● Long hair = not puritan, but hair length = medium = balance
puritan and wrking class = intersection of 3 IDs
● Flushed cheeks, direct gaze, position of confidence
● Freake portraits = identity + balance

6. Elizabeth Clarke Freake and Baby
Mary ca. 1671/4 3.5x3 ft.
● Baby added later (art can
change with time)
● New regard 4 visual
representation
● Flat, 2D surface, pushes
against plane
● Attn paid to lace, decorative
elements
● These pull work together, like
use of color red
● Modeling, sense of 3D

7. Elizabeth Clarke Freake and Baby
Mary cont.
● Typical madonna + child placement/motif = conscious
Xtian reference
● Gold + silver displayed; tapestry (Baroque flavor)
● “turkey-work”: gesture to Middle Eastern influences
→ suggestion of worldliness
● Her clothes probably from all over Europe
● These portraits set precedent of including furniture as
sign of affluence (Cromwellian chair)

8. Margaret Gibbs, ca. 1677
● Un-Ided artist
● Lace = costly (attn to detail)
– Red in trim and shoes
● Displayed like an adult – kids not @
play
●
17th
cent. Art thinks about happenings
in Europe
● Lots of empty space – makes you look
at figure
= Baroque influence, but not baroque (no
modeling)
● Looks 2 England – lrgly medieval;
flattened; attn to display of wealth
● Detail; flat; staid; controlled; distinct
light; limited gesture

9. Oak Chest ca. 1663-1680
By Thomas Dennis

10. Oak Chest by Thomas Dennis
● Furniture, dress = material culture = manmade objects
● Jules Prown (scholar) thought manmade works reflect values
of those who made them & society in which they live
● Owned by wealthy, ornate, careful detail
● High skill required (usually thru apprenticeship)
● Covered in decorative patterning = low-relief (sculptural)
● Intricate patterns
● Artisans make material culture
● Displays skill of carver, aesthetic + technical skill liked
● Blend of artistry + practicality
● Art served greater purpose than hanging in museums

11. Elizabeth Paddy Wensley ca. 1670S
● 1670's = Shift in style
● Un-Ided Boston artist
● Beginnings of change: stiff, awk
presentation, basic modeling...BUT
fleshiness, feels more human-like,
more like representation of individual
● More sophisticated use of lighting;
adds gentle qualities (hint of shadow
under cheek)
● Emphasis on wealth: ring, dress, lace
(like Limner works)
● Artist gentle – sense of line/elegance

12. Elizabeth Paddy Wensley cont.
dow device: gives perspective = challenge for
scape hard 2 read, but Baroque influence with
sh court styles (rich color)
t aware of what needs to be added to show
acteristic of sitter (wants to make her pretty)
e comfort among artists in New World

13. Major Thomas Savage ca. 1679
● In Boston (3.5 x 3 ft)
● Impressive lace, military man, coat of arms
helps us ID him
● Savage = colonialist + soldier
● “meager” beginnings in middle class (dad =
blacksmith)
● Helped found RI in 1638
● Pic late in life
→ captures him at point of reflection
● He's established himself (outside = gesture to
his role as military leader)
● Seascape points to his role as merchant
● 3D understanding, anatomy + color
● Thought out palette (gold woven through)
Thomas Smith (1650-1690)

14. Captain Thomas Smith ca. 1680
● Self portrait; 2 x 2 ft
● Wealthy mariner (seen many styles) like
window motif (present after 1670)
● Marks arrival of Baroque in America
→ Stylistic Shift
● Work layered, expressive
→ curve of face + flesh captured
● More sense of portrait than template
● Diverse color, subtle + rich
● Sense of rhythm: repetition in lace
→ repeats shape in his body (hair) + tassel
→ layers of motifs

15. Captain Thomas Smith cont.
● 1. portrait 2. seascape (naval engagement = his time in
navy) 3. still life (skull + poem)
● Smoke quality repeated in hair + lace
● Work = autobiographical summary of his life
● Poem = farewell from evils of world – impending death
● Skull: momento mori/vanitas
● Portrait to read like text to read
● *His vanitas shows he's in conversation with Western Art

16. Fairbanks House, 1636 – Dedham, MA
● Oldest wooden frame house in America
● Effective use of wattle & daub
● Timber frame, clapboard siding
● Pitched/angled roof for weather
● In England plaster used, but not here
● Basic interiors, double-duty spaces,
mostly open
● Later added on to
● Lacks symmetry; windows off center
(glass teuer!)
● Interior off-center = medieval influences;
low ceiling

17. The Parson House June 8, 1683, Topsfield, MA
● Date = day frame raised
● Built for Rev. Capen
= farmer + political leader
● The fact that town built it for
him showed his status in town
center
● Pitched/gabled roof = early
characteristic

18. The Parson House cont.
● Straight, large beam = simple
● Planks convey sense of importance
● Largely asymmetrical = public statement = propaganda
● Conscious gesture toward medieval style (comes directly from England)
– Gables, sharply sloped roofs
● Prominent chimney = sign of wealth – here we have 2 chimneys, but back to
back to look like 1
= Modesty
→ comes from Puritan vein

19. Portrait of Mrs. James Pierpont (Mary Hooker)
ca. 1711
● Pierpont Limner, 2.5 x 2 ft
● Bust-length, all about her
● Artist telling us she's pretty – direct gaze = confidence
● Soft, feathery outline + brushwork
– Quicker brushwork = more energy + easier to make
subject look pretty
– Fluid, confidence of artist
● Style of Queen Anne's Court
● Lace only enhances her – no statement of what she
owns
● Minister's wife: ease & grace offered in work
● How she looks = wichtiger als who she is in society
● Hair in style of Queen Anne (= her big role of Queen)

20. John van Courtlandt ca. 1731
● Pierpont Limner
● Tree + building = interior + exterior
● Courtly gesture: hands of goodwill/confidence
● Turn of foot – don't need to hold gloves – another
way to convey class
● Sense of finery: split ext. + inter. Spaces
● Individual in middle = harmony + natural
abundance
→ deer came right up – natural abundance with
material wealth + importance
● Artist figuring how to paint deer in space
● Clean composition, muted colors except clothing
call attention
● Artist has little sense of anatomy

21. Background...
Hierarchy
history + religious painting (meant to teach)
portraiture/landscape (in Western art)
still-life
genre (everyday life)
● Americans not painting history – have none and no true religious
foundation
● 1700: most colonialists of Euro descent
– Mainly Brits (300K) vs. French (600)
● Influences from Britain – many artists go there and come back
● Growing merchant class – have economic + cultural power
● Class awareness – partly comes from Brits
● Transatlantic Xchange – wealthy & use $ to act like Brits
● Increased emphasis on decorum + education
● Painting rapidly develops

22. Henry Darnall III ca. 1717
● First professional portrait artist in the south
Justus Englehardt Kuhn
● Patrons = upper crust in south = those who
own plantations
● Kid: height of fashion
● Leaning against bow = testament to skill as
hunter – we know he's good at it – hunting =
sport of the rich
● Slave behind him; metal collar
● Sits behind banister = lesser
● Earliest recording of an African American
in painting
● Kid = focal point

23. Henry Darnall III cont.
● Slave's head much lower, gazes on master
– Presentation of class + wealth
● Wondrous landscape in back – palatial, not America
● About grandeur + elegance – testament to Europe and
all family has and knows
● Loose brushwork though stiff & forward facing kid
● Loose curtain + tassel = baroque, trying to push forward
● New way to show wealth – not just by lace
● Kuhn slowly falls out of favor & dies in poverty

24. Gustave Hesselius ca. 1682-1755
● Born in Sweden moved in 1711 to Philly/DL
● Studied in London, then Sweden
● Has official artistic training. In 1712 = main portrait artist in Philly
● People wanted more artist training abroad
– Lots of economic contact btwn here + GB
● Art important statement – focus on fine art
– Still serves a purpose, but not just documentation or comment on sitter
● Different kinds of art – gesturing in to Biblical stories + mythology
● Grand tradition of European painting – theme taken from mythology

25. Bacchus and Ariadne ca. 1720
● A little ambitious – musculature off
● Lots of elements crammed in to show off
– Abundance of visual elements
● Influence of Baroque coming to painting
– Variety of body forms
● Hierarchies of Western art – wants to solidify it in colonies
● Partially nude; vibrant, sensuous colors
● Figures passed out
● Mythology story: must be educated to
understand
● Painted sculpture = gesture to Europe
– Statement that it's fine art

26. Tishcohan ca. 1735
● Native American chief of Lenape Tribe in DL
● Figures agreed to have portraits taken – document,
not for self-promotion
● They didn't have control over image
● Not in natural environment – puts them in
traditional portrait format
● Direct presentation: ½ length, little elements that
show who they are (blue cloth, pouch on 1)
● No truth in imagery – doesn't matter if they don't
look this way
● Differentiated through blue drape and skin tone
– Being sensitive to differences btwn them (skin
color)

27. Tischcohan “He who never blackens himself”
● Direct, forward presentation: about individual, not stereotype
● Coming for objectivity – he's recording
● Indians 2 be signers of Walking Peace treaty
● Sons of William Penn (John + Thomas) claimed they had
original treaty from 1680 promising to sell land as far as man
can walk
● Treaty = lie John + Thomas made indians sign it
● Portraits document treaty – not weighing in politically or
socially
● Commissioned by Brit named Penn
● Pushing toward noble savage

28. The Reverend Cotton Mather ca. 1728
● Print in Wuster, MA
● Ex of mezzotint – many artists start
working with it
– Popular in England
● Clean, crisp lines
● Pelham born in England; makes big
connections when he goes 2 US – starts
as Limner
– Favors mezzotint
● US artists considered 2nd
tier
● Pelham = force in Copley's life
● Work mass produced; stated as printing,
made print
– More $ to be made

29. Reverend Cotton Mather ca. 1728 cont.
● Emphasis on character of face/individuality
– We could see this guy on the street
● Goes beyond set presentation of face
● Attempt @ realism, not objectivity
● Part of set of artists – saw they could make $ as artists
● Limner + Hesselius have set rules
– Moves away from rules

30. Cardinal Guido Bentivoglio ca. 1720
● Considered best of 1. wave of immigrant artists
– Born in Scotland
● Has access to art + supplies; has sense of
materials
● 1. to set up career as artist
● Sehr wichtig in history of American art
● 1709: studied in London @ art school
● 1717-20: Grand tour in France+ Italy – studied
fine art
– Copied “old masters”
●
John Smybert (1682-1755)
in Boston

31. Cardinal Guido Bentivoglio cont.
● Copy of “Cardinal Guido Bentivoglio” by Anthony van Dyck ca. 1625
● American artists see in van Dyck rococo – more fluid + active brush
● Heavy palette, lighter brush = more flattering
● Not JUST about portraying social status
– Making sitter look attractive
– In copy: loose application of color
● Smyberts: firmer, blending not as smooth – see orange + yellow near red
● Emphasis on line = outline = what contains form
– Outline in ears, starkness, + harshness
● This copy = advertisement, not just learning opportunity
– Was way 4 artist to advertise himself
● Trying out the Baroque

32. The Bermuda Group – Dean George Berkley
and His Family ca. 1729

33. The Bermuda Group...
● @ Yale, 69 x 93 in.
● Smybert's try at the Baroque – goes all out
● Self portrait on far left
● Smybert sets up studio in London
● Berkley wants to hire him to teach arts @ his Uni
– Supposed to be in Bermuda to convert ppl to Xtianity
● School falls thru – no $ but b4 Smybert commissioned to do work
● Dean = far right, wife holds son
● 2 gentlemen = college admins + John Wainwright (Berkley's friend)
● Baroque: different poses + direction of gazes & gestures in many ways – tells you where to
look
– Arms give lines, all very active 4 posed figures
● Red tapestry gives weight
1. Visually: light + airy @ top
solidity @ bottom (robust)
tied to Wainright, weight thru color

34. ● Red tapestry gives weight
1. Visually: light + airy @ top
solidity @ bottom (robust)
tied to Wainright, weight thru color
2. Commitment: very serious, w/ books we're learning
● Deep space: zig zag water – idyllic landscape
– Understands perspective
● Balance of idyllic w/ reality of individuals (+ family portrait)
– Smybert signs it
● Who has power here?
– Men standing, vertical w/ columns, encase work, man touches book
– Women horizontal, holds baby
– Gender norms play out = revealing of society
● Womein in lighter colors = less serious, but holds gaze = her importance signified by
those around her
● Smybert holds our gaze = very serious = here to work

35. ● Smybert knows modeling
● Uses naturalistic colors and selects
flattering palette
● Nothing meant to distract from her
– Sheen of fabric = hard!
● Smybert's work starts to get plain –
not aesthetically interesting

36. Isaac Royall and His Family ca. 1741

37. ● @ Harvard Law, 56 x 78 in.
● Isaac Royall Jr. shown
● Accomplished artist but gone by 1750s
– Takes over Smybert's patronage
● Born in Long Island; mariner, son of preacher
● Self-taught status, but can paint on grand scale
– Grand scale 1720-1760
– Gives weight to figures + table
● Stark lighting = harder quality – less naturalistic
● Emphasis on outline + form = colonial impulse
– Reminds of early Limners
● Gender: formula followed
– Man standing in robust, eye-catching form, captures visual interest, becomes
viewer's resource
– Women = horizontal, emphasized by table
– Formulaic composition

38. ● Royalls made $ off slaves + rum – strong ties to London
loyalist cause – had sugar plantation
● Tree/foliage behind undeveloped = gesture to family
● Baroque-like presentation – not much drama in body
positions but in gazes + tilts of head + powerful palette =
vibrant
● Break from Smybert = palette
● Challenge 4 Feke = skin tone – so porcelain-like
● Insistent outline, individuality
● Feke paints youthful, ambitious, adventurous set of Boston
= those up and coming
● Smybert = tride + true – painter of those already established

39. Smybert vs. Feke
● Both part of Boston gang, along with Greenwood
● Smybert studio = where artists gathered + talked of aesthetics
● Both: grandeur, movement, thru eye + gesture
– Solidity of form
● Energy, zigzagging
● Grandeur thru primary colors
● Group portrait attraction
● Cutting edge with Baroque elements
●
Sidenote: towards 19th
cent. More history painting rather than
portraiture

40. Feke
● Women portraits: grace, dignity, ease, charm = aristocratic values
● Women = principle of femininity – presentation of self
● Emphasis on line, understands fabrics
● Women = central, but to R = landscape
● Feke = popular + taking over; follows similar structure
● Baroque → Rococo: Serious → playful
● What americans borrow:
– multiple gazes solid form + grander
– naturalistic presentation of interior (not lighting, but body placement)
– Purpose + message = serious
● Rococo: fun, central pleasures, lighter, brighter palette, curvy →
emphasis on narrative, less moral direction
● Sensuous line – over the top – Americans don't go far w/ it

41. Portrait of a Woman ca. 1748
● Emphasis on natural
abundance, femininity,
repetition of flowers
● Flowers = fertility, softness,
flattering, sheen of fabric
● Rococo becomes gender style
in US
● For men, Feke holds
“masculine present”
● Firm, solid, grand

42. Brigadier General Samuel Waldo ca. 1748-50
● Feke has limited time frame
● Formal presentation, soft baroque/hard
rococo – not fully in either
● Pastel-like landscape(rococo)
● red jacket comes out @ you
– Red, gold framed by burgundy
– Contrasting play of color (background fades)
● Ankle = he's a gentleman
● Commissioned by city of Boston (big for
Feke) = opportunity to be Boston painter
● Faithful likeness 2 individual
– Not natural presentation

43. ● Background tells this is Boston: natural + city qualities
● Conventional pose + baton = trope
– Manmade instrument of action – sense of power
– All emphasis on him
● #1 native born painter @ end of work + 1. native q/ aesthetic
impact on color & changes he made on Smybert's formula

44. The Greenwood – Lee Family ca. 1747
● John Greenwood (1727-1792)
● Completes group portrait = hard +
statement of his ability
● Technically interesting – includes
self
● Greenwood = engraver, but not
enough $ so moved to painting
● 1745 in Boston, then S. America +
London
– Thought London important
– Get art by source
● Knew Smybert + Feke – hung out @ Smybert's studio

45. The Greenwood-Lee Family cont.
● Work = bold presentation of artist
● Ambitious with lots of movement
● Little anatomical knowledge
● Domestic scene – gives sense of sitters
– Women circle table = domesticity
● Dark color: sense of solidity
● Sheen of fabric
● Greenwood follows business (itinerant)

46. Sea Captain Carousing in Surinam ca. 1758
St. Louis Art Museum, 38 x 75 in., Greenwood
*Only example of genre painting in America

47. Sea Captains Carousing in Surinam, cont.
● Genre painting: scenes of everyday life, usually mult. Narratives, complex
– Big in the 19th
century
– Just what you see
● Bound by vignettes – different pockets of activity – move eye thru canvas
– Viewer meant to enjoy activity taking place
● Eclectic group: cptns., workers, slaves
– = vision of social diversity
● Image of leisure – what one does after hours
– Not idealistic → trying to be naturalistic
● Men in Pub – Dutch mariners: trade rum, lumber, slaves
● Genre usually anonymous – operate through types/larger statements
– Looked to William Hogarth: “A Midnight Modern Conversation” ca. 1732
● Greenwood seems egalitarian, but slave nude
– Works: popular ideas/perception – what groups usually do – meant to enjoy activity/laugh

48. Isaac Winslow and His Family ca. 1755
● Blackburn worked in sphere of Hogarth
● 2nd
tier – bad in London, good in colonies
● Went back to England 1762, politics becoming big
– Artists must decide loyalties
● Borrows/brings back rococo
● Light, rosy palette, feathery brushwork
● Colonial impulse = hard line
● Feathery quality = lighter touch, little marks
Joseph Blackburn
(1730-1778)
● Fantasy image, not documenting, puts emphasis on family
● Idea that family works and is important
● Informal: Isaac leaning – relaxed, everyone at peace
● Male-female split; men = vertical
● Public statement: in house (what do sitter + artist want to say?)

49. Mary and Elizabeth Royall ca. 1757
● Trying 2 merge European w/ colonial
●
By 18th
cent finally have history of painting
● Complicated composition
● So much satin = signature quality
– *materiality of goods
● Drapery = grandeur (Blackburn's influence)
● Refined sense of anatomy
● Active use of color – contrast/give vibrancy
– Provides movement, activity, light,
theater
John Singleton Copley
(1738-1815)

50. Mary and Elizabeth Royall cont.
● Hand on shoulder = physical contact = warmth, family, ease
● Balance theatricality w/ warmth
● Dependence/emphasis on line
● Focus on detail (fur of dog, starkness of satin)
– Accurate likeness: individualized, but flattering
● Complete Clarity: not about what eye does
– Copley asserting aesthetic presence – controls what you see
and how you see it

51. The Boy with the Flying Squirrel ca. 1765
● Boy = Henry Pelham – ½ brother
● Not commissioned – starts Copley's career as big artist –
self conscious demonstration of talent
● Made to ship to London exhibit w/ big exhibition at Society
of Artists
– Makes art to be shown, not for $ - invested in
relationship with British artists
●● Now conversation, transmission
● Big emphasis on line + drawing (framing + structure)
● Colonial = extreme clarity, line, “truth” (gestures of technical skill)
● Boy in profile (adolescence), dramatic sweep of color pushes sitter out
(negotiates distance btwn viewer + sitter)
● 3D, roundness, modeling – psychological quality

52. Paul Revere ca. 1768
● Sense of informality
● Everyday guard, seated @ table, sense
of familiarity
● Table: creates line btwn us + subject
(impediment)
● Table: invites us 2 engage w/ subject,
sit down with him
● Added 2 w/ sensory detail – want to
touch table
● Sense that he's thoughtful, direct gaze
= interaction
● Many connections made:
– Touches face + pot = connection of
mental + physical labor

53. Paul Revere cont.
● Idea of pot, pot came from mind
● Draws eye between intellect, what he's made
● Reflective surfaces – good @ perspective
● Weight given to figure in part thru background
● Takes visual + physical space
● Materiality of objects: etches name on pot as maker
● Visual qualities of American art: line + detail (Puritan values
find their way in to this kind of art – doesn't work w/ Copley

54. Mr. and Mrs. Isaac Winslow ca. 1774
● Husband + wife, but individuality
● Experiments w/ portraiture
● Different gazes (she = wistful, he = direct)
● She has reserved posed, counteracts his gaze
● Open palm and body = friendliness,
invitation, materials, want to touch
● Mrs. shown dignified & pretty
● Color dark in left = gender presentation
– Solidity + seriousness but then soft
yellow
● Repeats red (makes viewer's eye work in X
formation making work active)

55. Watson and the Shark ca. 1778
● 6 x 8 ft, 4 diff versions, APEX of western art
● About Watson Brook who fell off boat in Havanna Harbor
● Gift 2 orphanage, about perseverance, succeeding despite
adversary
● Very personal – relationship between Copley and Watson
● Emph on Watson: only guy in water, w/ imminent threat, standard
pyramidal arrgment, ppl seek to help him, naked?, shark + him =
action
● Brings intense emotion
● Comment on slavery + dismemberment of British Empire
● American revolution disruptive personally + professionally
● Prof wanted to make aesthetic art convo with England
– Wanted to be part of royal academy

56. ● Wants 2 push into history painting, but court already had official painter
● Work meant to be hopeful = biographical
● = symbolic work in realistic style = REALISM (history painting goes to it)
– Recognizable forms + elements, suggests truth
● Dramatic lung of shark
1. lower ½ of nature + man – altered visual detail 2 show importance
2. upper ½ = dramatic rescue
● Theatrical, pyramidal structure (=stability, balance), though it leans
– Gives surging drama, heightens emotions
● Focus/weight @ hopeful contact: is he going to make it?
● Viewers become +savvy – coincides with rise of sensationalism
– Ppl want excitement, this work feeds this
● Symbolism: loss of leg (perseverance), shark (adversary) – has reflective surface
which heightens artificiality of work – loses materiality..doesn't really pull it off.
Normally it seems like artist was there in history works

57. ● Representative of nature + the exotic
● Caribbean port = specific of exotic locale (shark lives in colonial waters)
● *scholars don't agree on visual sources
1. Grouping with movement/action
– Copley looks to Lacöon → sense of flow + movement, turn + twist
– More movement than seen before
– Rope coiling, connects visual elements; surging/diagonal
– Figure of African descent meant 2 be white, but made black later
– = comment on slave trade, black body at top = inversion of practice of
overthrowing sick slaves *Copley doesn't take a position
2. Source from Prometheus by de Ribera ca. 1630
– Circulating in London, mid 18th
century, moment of suspending animation, dark
palette = focus on body
● *Fated Exchange: commentary on occurring contest → ppl fight over America
● Colonies being dismembered (like leg)
3. Biblical Image but no longer accepted

58. The Death of General Wolfe ca. 1770
● National Gallery Canada, 5x7ft
● History = grand themes + grand ideas = pinnacle of painting
– = belief from 16th
century → hard 2 do therefore important
● Painting = visual form of history, has greatest potential 2 affect viewer
– Meant to impress/instruct
● Place, person/hero (to express ideals) + EVENT needed (should be dramatic!)
● Viewers meant to feel inspired by his sacrifice
● West = court painter to George III; makes career in London but born in PA
● **1. american artist to achieve international acclaim
● In NY, travels, Grand Tour (Italy 1760, London 1763)
● Royal patronage influences what he paints
● West founds ROYAL ACADEMY in London

59. ● This work gets West in trouble with George III = beginning of his end
● Exhibits @ Royal Academy in 1771, widespread acclaim
– ISSUE: contemporary in subject
– Never before put people in contemporary clothes
– Takes moment in Battle of Plains of Abraham, French and Indian War in
1759, war was precursor to Revolution
– Brits vs. French fight for Quebec, Brits win
● NEOCLASSICISM: Wolfe knew @ death that Brits won, fighting all around
● Set 3 Groupings: center = drama: light on body – elegant pose, emphasis on
pyramidal structure, draws eye to location
● Death scene: heightened drama → The Lamentation, 1612 Rubens
– = moment of contact btwn Christ + mourners
● Wolfe = prone – has contact w/ soldiers around him
● He tried to get lots of portraits to capture sense of grief

60. ● Reference to Bible = big deal, BUT contemporary history painting
● *How do you get sense of marvelous/extraordinary – no blood, only evocation of
violence
● Political Undercurrents:
– Reference 2 America → Native American
– = creative departure, pose of contemplation, bears witness – plays role of
noble savage, Passive body, unconcerned
– Celebrates GB, warning to colonies (France = threat!)
– Exotic landscape (like Copley), eye-witness account
● Copley + West study landscape
● Historical authority: GB's story to tell → affirms state and its power
● So many layers to political works → nothing left to chance
● Artists construct history like construct painting = “real”, “accurate”

61. William Penn's Treaty with the Indians ca.
1771-2

62. ● Commissioned by Thomas Penn (William's son)
● He wanted to document the founding of PA
● Set on Delaware River, settlers vs. natives
– Not about integration = mtg btwn 2 different groups (ca. 1682)
● = “Treaty of Friendship”
● Natives shown in typical garb – historical accuracy of clothes?
● Native Americans presented as type
● Quakers, Merchants, Indians all = in act of settlement
● Madonna scene – says Indian existence not compromised by treaty
● All =, peace, friendship + historical document of treaty
– References physical document
● “Stately Elm” = @ site @ time = way West makes image have historical
accuracy

63. ● *American painting, American treaty = between natives
● All about here and now
● Sense of harmony, reserve, grandeur
● Cohesive color – all level + equal → how bodies nebeneinander
● West: 1.) surging drama 2.)treaty equal + peaceful
● = Source for Copley

64. The Death of Major Pierson ca. 1782-84
●
In England, date January 6th
, 1781, 8x12 ft
● Very recent event (2 years prior)
● Battle of Jersey: French vs. Brits 2 secure island
● Heated tensions = shifts in Empires – fighting 4 control
● 1781: engagement assoc. with American Revolution
● Pierson died → American/British history painting
● Surging diagonal w/ blood, falling body
● Collection of soldiers catch body, showing honor, delicacy
● Color red = urgency, drama
● Lamentation reference: compositional quality; 3 Groupings:
1.) Soldiers: lined = dramatic background, drummer's hand guides view

65. ● Black figure = historically accurate, avenges Pierson's death
– Important visual + narrative part (not an outsider)
– Integrated visually, repetition of color
2.) fleeing women + kids: higher stakes in fight – families
3.) Middle: surging diagonal, cannon moves us to ladies, L → R
● Bold colors meant to make you part of history
● 17 complete studies of this work
● Invested in detail, careful composition: feels staged, fixed, dramatic but located
→ Baroque quality
● Flag = pseudo-cross, propaganda (Pierson = Christ)
● *contemporary events with contemporary people can be just as valuable
– * = create new pantheon of history painting
– Stakes higher!!

66. Charles Willson Peale (1741-1827)
● From Maryland, starts art in his 20s
● Has craftsman skills, taught by John Hesselius
● Sees Smybert's works, meets Copley + West (1767-1769)
● Studies with West for 2 years in London
● Paints portraits, patriot, served in military
– Made maps
● Heads = ovals = Smybert's influence
● *colonial: clarity, hard line, drawing
● Merged colonial with Rococo (tries to stray from set
presentation)
● Affection shown

67. Charles Willson Peale cont.
● Rococo influence in portraits = informal pose, sense of connection between
individuals
● Oval head (Peale stayed with this shape, while Copley wanted accurate likeness)
● Family interested in the arts (his family portrait in academic style)
– References to old influential people, ex: bust of West
– Pyramidal shape, order, stability
– Not Smybert, no committed gender presentation
● Family lineage of art

68. General George Washington Before
Princeton ca. 1779
● PAAcademy Fine Arts, 8 x 5 ft
● Tiny, oval head, but figure in command
– Sense of grandeur (=lifesize)
– Historically accurate
● Commemorates victories @ Trenton + Princeton
● GW oversaw defeat of Brits & drove them out
● *1. American Government Commission
– Hired by PA
● More portrait than history
– Calm, relaxed (meant 2 relax viewers)

69. ● Clouds: dark, smoke passing on, skies clearing
● Colonial elements add strength
– Various manmade details = items transformed America's win
● Contemporary event = in the moment
– Creates heros @ moment events happen (feels like document)
● Metaphor: rising American nationalism (flag shown), 4reignors lost
● Deco adds grandeur + color + drama in foreground
● Peale wants to make heros out of war
– Nation defines itself through these representatives
● Emphasis on self-made individual
– No sense of humility – more individualistic
– Natural aristocrats ascended socially through hard work
– Get sense of importance/status

70. ● All else is simplified → desire of accurate likeness
● *direct gazes, neutral backgrounds to emphasize making of hero
– → less emphasis on material wealth
● Peale wants to exult Benjamin West
● Sees importance in museums → invested in archives
● Wants to institutionalize American history through representation

71. The Staircase Group ca. 1795
● Deliberate convo btwn viewer + art
● Deliberately individual
● Sons shown = celebration of art in the family
● Poignant work (Titian dies later): What's its purpose?
● Emphasis on vertical = look @ stairs
● Invitation to move into work
●
Portrait + trompe L'oeil (fool the eye): 17th
century Dutch
● Tromp L'oeil: witty, serious, offshoot of still-life
● Game artists play with viewer bridges convo btwn artist + viewer
● Peale asserts mastery over allusion
– Makes you aware of nature of painting (smart of Peale 2 have done)

72. ● Grain of wood emphasized, ticket on steps (=exhibition ticket)
– References moment – work on exhibition = centerpiece
● Establishes museum in Philly, open to public
● 1801 collection moves to Independence Hall
● Not limited to art, but also liked technology
● Portrait artist, history painter, still-life?
● Excavation of mastodon; from experience comes work
– 1. archeological dig in US
– Generational element: showed moment – cultural convo
– Broader issues btwn man + nature (how does it fit into Xtian
narrative?)
– This dig possible through divine God,

73. The Artist in His Museum ca. 1822
● 9x6 ft, PAAcademy of Fine Arts
● Commissioned by board of trustees of museum
● Self-portrait w/ dramatic gesture of welcome –
shows museum
● Has palette + brushes + bone = references to
himself
● Distinctly American = turkey in 4ground
– ex. of animal life in US
● Avid interest in science, art, + display
● Space/museum = democratic + intergenerational
● Dramatic + staid, looser brush on face + swag
● Light vs. dark, textures, movement + flow
● Welcomes us into space, directs us where to look

74. John Trumbull (1756-1843)
● Goes to Harvard, joins Army, drew maps
● IDs himself like Peale as having nat'nl importance
● Son of wealthy merchant/ CT governor
● 1778: rents Smybert's studio, later in London with West 1784
● Wants to paint history, but can't do it in London b/c political reasons + West
already there
● Neoclassicism: influence on West, Copley, Trumbull
– Based on ancient Greek + Roman sources
– Emphasize aesthetic + cultural ideas
● = direct reaction to Rococo
● Before Romanticism, coincides with Enlightenment

75. The Death of General Warren at the
Battle of Bunker's Hill ca. 1784-86

76. ● Contemporary history work: big, noble ideas
● Trumbull saw this battle at a glance
● So dramatic/staged → Ex: surging flag
● Here = authenticity → bodies littered
● Drama shows stake here in battle (more carnage)
● Bodies strewn, variety of poses, lines veer off = chaos
● *Sublime element: dying for one's country
– Thing of greatness/ importance – so big and massive
– Creates pleasurable terror in you
– Noble death gives sense of sublime
● Convo with West + Copley = not possible without their examples
● High moral value, Warren sacrificed himself
● *About America! Establishes national history
● = art with ideological purpose

77. Enlightenment Influence on Neoclassicism
1. Human affairs ruled by reason + common good
→ not simply tradition/established rule
2. Activity @ foreground
3. Controlled brushwork = emphasis on contour
4. Rich, saturated, vibrant colors
5. About noble ideas = fits in w/ what America is + wants to be
→ America crafting what it wants to be
→ convo between American artists + David in France
6. Loss sense of informality – staged quality
7. Set in ancient Greece/Rome

78. Declaration of Independence ca. 1818

79. ● 2 copies, 1 in Capitol, 1 at Yale
● Trumbull more comfortable on small scale
● Met TJ in Paris, gave him 1. hand info on what room looked like, though
had partially forgotten
● In Independence Hall in Boston
– Documents important ceremony
●
= 2nd
Continental Congress (June 26th
, 1776)
● Wanted meeting to have meaning
– Includes all big players (not wholly accurate)
– Creates vision of historical event
● 48/49 portraits in work, TJ in center = accurate likenesses
= witnesses 2 event + tell viewer how to look at work
● Dramatic moment = signing of work

80. ● Tells us who's wichtig = propaganda
● Ppl coming together, conflict resolution
– Put aside individual desires for common good
● Tighter brushwork
● Repeated colors, balanced, equality
– Heads aligned, no surging dramatic lines
● Became gov't portrait painter in 1810 = lots $$
● American Rev influenced how artists trained – brought back more
Euro styles
– Doesn't transform American culture overall
– Remnants of “folk/home” style
– Greater divide btwn home taught + those who studied

81. Roger Sherman ca. 1775
● Ralph Earl from CT, self-taught, loyalist
● Roger Sherman = 1. mayor of New Haven,
Founding Father
● = masterpiece of Earl, continues early
American tradition
● Blunt quality – little deco – reminds of older
works
– Neutral palette + background
● Awkward perspective
● Staunch patriot → shown in his reserve
● Natural coloring; should be natural pose, but
stiff
● Red drape = earlier, royal style
● No details that speak 2 wealth – all about
man + space

82. ● Itinerant limner style in bluntness of presentation
● Little embellishment, almost crude
● Though swag and red color echoed in clothes
● Obvious presentation – viewer has full access
● Not much sophistication needed in part of viewer
● Lines + lighting reveal status of artist

83. Chief Justice and Mrs. Oliver Ellsworth
ca 1792

84. ● Ralph Earl, 6x7 ft, in Wadsworth Collection, CT
● Gesture to grand manner taking hold in American art
● Land = center (almost its own portrait)
● Female dress speaks to status
● Proportions off → chief has long torso
● Many facial details → the face was the most important for Earl
● Rug + fringe = finery that speaks to sitter
● Gender norms: books behind him, nature close to her
● Sitting @ estate, looking @ estate
– = celebration of what they own
● Emphasis on outline + palette relying on “local color” – nothing startling
● Modeling on face, but not much on body

85. The Westwood Children 1807
● For a family, showed $$
● Sons of John + Margaret
– John = stagecoach mnger
– Commissioned
● Shallow foreground + neutral
lighting
● Neutral background forces kids
at viewer – feels awkward

86. Joshua Johnston (1763-1822)
● 1. African American to be established portrait painter
● 1796: gained freedom in Baltimore
● Modeling limited, anatomy limited
● Early itinerant limner tradition
● Flat background, flat use of color
● All have similar head + shape
● = composed individuals, but you're a part of the family
● Flat black dog pops out = silhouette feel
● Still life + portrait + landscape = demonstration of skill
● *associated with folk art, or nonacademic
– In 19th
century, folk + intellectual art split wide open

87. Gilbert Stuart (1755-1828)
● Principle portraitist 1790s – 1825 = FEDERAL PERIOD
● Apprenticed with Scottish portraitist
● 1775: Stuart meets West, stays 5 years there
● 1790s: moved back to US, Boston in 1805
● *early style = colonial style
– Emphasis on line/linearity, figures stuck to canvas, froze in space
– Little knowledge of anatomy, direct gaze, neutral background
● Exposed to West and things change
– Adopts British style = looser brush, subtly in tones, concept of
authority
● Only did portraits + traveled around

88. Side Notes
● Trumbull + Stuart push for nationalistic art to serve republic
– America still suspicious of art bc of its sensual quality
– Battle/push + pull affects fates of artists
– Fine, European art associated with aristocracy
● GS: invested in showing new kind of hero
● Thinks about American art as itself – an independent style

89. The Skater ca. 1782 ● 8x9 ft, @ National Gallery
● Gentlemanly, relaxed crossing of legs
● Sense of lean/tilt = sophisticated movement
of body w/ variety of convincing details
● Invested in texture
● Brush so light – whispy quality
● Feathery, monochromatic work
● Where is the viewer?
● Tilt to work → figure tall, horizon line low
● Gives sense that part of scene but that he's
above us = his importance
● Made w/ intent of showing @ Royal
Academy, not for $

90. Mrs. Richard Yates ca.1793
● 2.5 x 2 ft, National Gallery
● Standard portrait
● *tonal harmony: tans, browns, blacks
● Spotlight effect: light surrounds her, not
even
● Loose brushwork of shawl, but not smooth
application of paint
– About effect = make pretty to eye, not
accurate likeness
– Renders sitters attractive
● Selects pose that downplays bad attributes
● No S-curves but through paint, color gives
seriousness
Gilbert Stuart

91. ● Well to do, but not aristocratic
● Sewing = female activity
● *immediacy of work through loose brushwork
– Doesn't look frozen
● Complexity in position of hand = delicacy w/ solid form
*What will be the American art style of the New Republic?
● Desire to create independent art ID – up until 1945
– Push/pull with Europe
● Limners more American
– Not touched by Euro influence
– Wrestling with European undercurrent

92. Gilbert Stuart GW Studies
● Best known for his works of GW
– Goes to Philly
● Vaughn-type: more of right side
● Antenaeum-type: more of left side
● GS softened likeness – sense of directness
● Exchange between viewer + subject
● Not about accuracy, but about conveying hero
● Once you solidify icons, no longer about documentation

93. The Lansdowne Portrait ca. 1796
● 8x6 ft, commissioned by Lord Lansdowne
● Of GW giving farewell address
● Associated with column = stability, strength
● Black dress gives attn to face = seriousness
of purpose
● Gesture of welcome + farewell (thought +
reason = Enlightenment ideas)
● Rainbow = hope, fortune, passing of storm
● Next 2 table suggested weighted importance
● Cloth: regal, dramatic quality

94. ● In regular clothes: humility
● Sword: gesture to time as general
– Successful not thru violence but thru thought + reason
● Quintessential aristocratic portrait of new republic, but not
aristocratically shown
● Dramatic use of color = stateliness

95. Sarah Morton
ca. 1802
● 2x2.5 ft
● Sarah = poet, wife of politician
● GS adjusts style to get personality of sitter
● Released her from linearity defining
colonial style – energetic quality
● E around painting, invested in light + dark,
no hard edges
● Subtle toning harmony
– Where is she? In heaven?
● Flattering, accurate likeness
● Sad quality + immediacy (quick brush)
● Subtly of shading: about paint, not drawing
– Thickness of paint – not smooth

96. John Vanderlyn (1775-1825)
● Wants grand manner of painting
● Art that was associated with aristocracy on the defensive
● Artists don't want to hold to European ideals they just broke from
● How do you adapt? Evolve?
● *Leads to American High Manner!
● Von NY, family invested in his art training: read + copied engraving
● American high art developing in communities + small circles
● Goes to France for education: *1. Ami to study in France
– Bc of Burr and his political ideas, doesn't like GB

97. ● France ca. 1800 = Neoclassical style
1. Emphasis on Line
2.Action pushed to Frontal plane – little in background
3.Sentiment on high ideals (truth, honor, justice → pull from
classical sources)
4.Emphasis on anatomy – what Vanderlyn takes away
● Vanderlyn becomes supreme draftsman: good @ balance → learns
from David, realizes doesn't want to be portrait painter
● Heard this with Copley – wants to do more, but Amis have little
interest in such works
● Does what Copley did: history painting on recent event + includes
Americans
● *Looks to recent history, then to Roman hist. Then to the nude

98. The Murder of Jane McCrea, ca. 1804
● 2x3 ft, NEOCLASSICAL
● Native amis + woman framed against
frontal plane
– Directs eye to narrative
● Trees + woods = dark, makes scene pop
– Man in back posed to action
● *based on poem by Joel Barlow
– Spent time in France until 1805,
diplomat, patriot
– Had dreams of grandeur, poem: “The
Columbian”
– Glorifies America & her progress von
discovery to reovlution

99. ● Barlow underwent religious conversion from Xtianity to atheism
● Retells Ami founding w/o religion, includes science
● Wanted poem to be Ami project, also thru illustration
● Based on real murder in 1777
● Her fiance = loyalist
● We're given drama, amped by race + gender
– She = double victim: white woman attacked by racial men
– Hints to this thru bodice of chest = sexual threat
● Unforgiving, animalistic native ami face = departure von earlier works
● Emphasis on musculature
● Blue = innoncense, red = impending bloodshed
● Men have rich colors = symbolism (red = Brits)
● Man has blue coat = representative of Patriots

100. ● According to poem, Brits paid Native Americans to suppress colonial
population
– Work + poem = ANTI BRITISH
● Propaganda (like all history works) uses gender + race
– She's also a maiden
● Shows in Salon of 1804 – hosted by Louvre = big deal
● Lots of drama, but controlled
● In French Grand Style
– Presents honor, pure emotion, containment of emotion – overall
controlled
● Lighting everywhere on her body: emphasis on muscles threatening her
● Louisiana Purchase: indians stand in way of progression – justifies
more aggressive policies, slowly vanish in Ami art

101. Ariadne Asleep on the Island of Naxos
ca. 1814

102. ● Vanderlyn solidifies role as neoclassical artist
● Likes dramatic foregrounds with neutral background = seriousness
● Invested in research == wants authoritative feel to works
● Work shown @ Salon of 1814
● Work = reworked Greek myth narrative
● Ariadne = daughter of Minos, left by Thessius
● *Theme of abandonment
● Nude study: adopts from classical sources so he can do one
● Pose becomes trope in art

103. ● Action @ picture plane, lush red = drama
– Line + form = 3D; modeling + shading
● Not liked by Ami audience – appreciate technical ability, but
why select subject not related to America or her ideals?
● Must be educated to understand (rules out mercantile class)
● Work has neoclassical tradition
● Goes back to US and brings art to masses
– Builds gallery = the Rotunda behind City Hall in NY
*Vanderlyn's career shows frustration of artist trying to transplant
European culture in America
→ can it be done or must there be a process of adaptation