Inscription
in a later hand, lower left: Portrait of / Mr Rickarts / Horse Equestraine [sic] / Friend of the artist / Gilbert Stuart; in a later hand, lower right: Portrait of Rickarts / Horse Equestrian / An Intimate Friend of / Gilbert Stuarts
Provenance
The sitter's brother, Francis Ricketts.[1] Purchased at auction around 1853 by Peter Grain, Philadelphia.[2] (Barlow, Washington, D.C.); sold before 1867 to George W. Riggs [1813-1881], Washington;[3] his daughters, Alice Lawrason Riggs [1841-1927] and Jane Agnes Riggs [1853-1930], Washington; bequeathed by Jane Agnes Riggs to her friend, Mary F. McMullan; purchased by Pauline Riggs Noyes [Mrs. Robert B. Noyes], Pomfret, Connecticut, and New York; gift 1942 to NGA.
Exhibition History
- 1925
- Early American Paintings, Miniatures and Silver Assembled by the Washington Loan Exhibition Committee, National Gallery of Art (now Smithsonian American Art Museum), Washington, D.C., 1925-1926, no. 59, as Circus Rider.
- 1944
- Gilbert Stuart: Portraits Lent by the Natioanl Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, 1944-1945, no. 19, as William Rickhart
- 1947
- American Paintings from the Collection of the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1947.
- 1949
- American Paintings from the Collection of the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1949.
- 1950
- The Face of American History, Columbia Museum of Art, South Carolina, 1950, no. 14.
- 1951
- American Portraits from the National Gallery of Art, High Museum of Art, Atlanta, 1951, no. 14 (organized by the Atlanta Art Association).
- 1952
- [Opening exhibition], Mint Museum of Art, Charlotte, North Carolina, 1952, no catalogue.
- 1952
- [Opening exhibition of new art gallery], Randolph-Macon Woman's College, Lynchburg, Virginia, 1952-1953, no catalogue.
- 1952
- Opening Exhibition of The George Thomas Hunter Gallery of Art, Chattanooga Art Association, Tennessee, 1952, unnumbered catalogue.
- 1956
- American Paintings from the Collection of the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1956.
- 1967
- Gilbert Stuart, Portraitist of the Young Republic, 1755-1828, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.; Museum of Art, Rhode Island School of Design, Providence; The Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, Philadelphia, 1967, no. 20.
- 1976
- Abroad in America: Visitors to the New Nation 1776-1914, National Portrait Gallery, Washington, D.C., 1976, no. 18.
- 1984
- Loan for display with permanent collection, Oklahoma Museum of Art, Oklahoma City, 1984-1987.
- 1992
- Extended loan for use by Ambassador William Fitzgerald, U.S. Embassy residence, Dublin, Ireland, 1992-1993.
- 1993
- Extended loan for use by Ambassador Jean Kennedy Smith, U.S. Embassy residence, Dublin, Ireland, 1993-1998.
- 1998
- Extended loan for use by Ambassadors Michael J. Sullivan and Richard J. Egan, U.S. Embassy residence, Dublin, Ireland, 1998-2003.
- 2004
- Gilbert Stuart, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; National Gallery of Art (for the National Portrait Gallery), Washington, D.C., 2004-2005, no. 55, repro.
- 2012
- Circus and the City, Bard Graduate Center: Decorative Arts, Design History, Material Culture, New York, 2012-2013, no. 1, repro.
Bibliography
- 1861
- Brown, Thomas Allston. "A Complete History of the Amphitheatre and Circus, from its earliest date, with sketches of some of the principal performers." New York Clipper 8 (19 January 1861): 320.
- 1867
- Tuckerman 1867, 110, 633.
- 1879
- Mason, George C. The Life and Works of Gilbert Stuart. New York, 1879: 151, as Breschard, the Circus-Rider.
- 1880
- "Portraits Painted by Stuart...taken from Mason's Life and Works of Gilbert Stuart." In Exhibition of Portraits Painted by Gilbert Stuart. Exh. cat. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 1880: 32, no. 90, as Breschard, the Circus Rider.
- 1926
- Park 1926, 634-635, no. 691, repro., as Mr. Rechart, or Rickart.
- 1970
- American Paintings and Sculpture: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1970: 106, repro.
- 1975
- Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. New York, 1975: 382-383, color repro.
- 1980
- American Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1980: 234, repro.
- 1981
- Williams, William James. A Heritage of American Paintings from the National Gallery of Art. New York, 1981: 64, repro. 66.
- 1984
- Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. Rev. ed. New York, 1984: 378, no. 537, color repro.
- 1992
- American Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1992: 349, repro.
- 1995
- Miles, Ellen G. American Paintings of the Eighteenth Century. The Collections of the National Gallery of Art Systematic Catalogue. Washington, D.C., 1995: 208-211, repro. 209.
- 2000
- Kirsh, Andrea, and Rustin S. Levenson. Seeing Through Paintings: Physical Examination in Art Historical Studies. Materials and Meaning in the Fine Arts 1.. New Haven, 2000: 265, as John Bull Ricketts.
- 2013
- Evans, Dorinda. Gilbert Stuart and the Impact of Manic Depression. Burlington, 2013: 13.
- 2016
- Rather, Susan. The American School: Artists and Status in the Late Colonial and Early National Era. New Haven, 2016: 191-193, color fig. 143.
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