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Benjamin West

Maria Hamilton Beckford (Mrs. William Beckford), 1799

Not on View

Medium

oil on canvas

Dimensions

overall: 146 x 115 cm (57 1/2 x 45 1/4 in.)

framed: 177.8 x 146.7 x 10.2 cm (70 x 57 3/4 x 4 in.)

Credit Line

Andrew W. Mellon Collection

Accession Number

1947.17.23

Artists / Makers

Benjamin West (painter) American, 1738 - 1820

Image Use

This image is in the public domain.
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Provenance

William Beckford [1760-1844], Fonthill Abbey, Wiltshire, and Bath, England; his daughter, Susan Euphemia Beckford, 10th Duchess of Hamilton [1786-1859], Hamilton Palace, County Lanark, Scotland; by descent to William Alexander Louis Stephen Douglas-Hamilton, 12th Duke of Hamilton [1845-1895]; (his estate sale, Christie, Manson and Woods, London, 6 November 1919, no. 74); bought by (Tooth Brothers, London);[1] sold 4 February 1920 to Thomas B. Clarke [1848 1931], New York;[2] his estate; sold as part of the Clarke collection on 29 January 1936, through (M. Knoedler & Co., New York), to The A.W. Mellon Educational and Charitable Trust, Pittsburgh; gift 1947 to NGA.

[1] Christie, Manson and Woods, Catalogue of Family Portraits: Works by Old Masters and Modern Pictures: The Property of The Trustees of His Grace the Late Duke of Hamilton, 6-7 November 1919, London; annotated copy, Frick Art Reference Library, New York (copy, NGA).

[2] The name of the seller and the date of purchase are recorded in a copy of Portraits by Early American Artists of the Seventeenth, Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries Collected by Thomas B. Clarke, Exh. cat., Philadelphia Museum of Art, 1928, annotated with information from files of M. Knoedler & Co., NY (copy in NGA curatorial records and in NGA library).

Associated Names

Beckford, 10th Duchess of Hamilton, Susan Euphemia
Beckford, William
Christie, Manson & Woods, Ltd.
Clarke, Thomas Benedict
Hamilton, William Alexander Louis Stephen, 12th Duke of
Knoedler & Company, M.
Mellon Educational and Charitable Trust, The A.W.
Tooth & Sons, Ltd., Arthur

Exhibition History

1921: Exhibition of Paintings by Early American Portrait Painters, The Union League Club, New York, November 1921, no. 5, as Elizabeth Gordon.

1922: Exhibition of Paintings and Drawings by Benjamin West and of Engravings Representing His Work, Brooklyn Museum, 1922, no. 24, as Elizabeth Gordon, Countess of Sutherland

1928: Portraits by Early American Artists of the Seventeenth, Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries, Collected by Thomas B. Clarke, Philadelphia Museum of Art, 1928-1931, unnumbered and unpaginated catalogue, as Elizabeth Beckford.

1970: Two Centuries of American Portraits, University of Kentucky Art Gallery, Lexington; Paducah Art Gallery; J.B. Speed Art Museum, Louisville, 1970, unnumbered

1974: Extended loan for use by Dumbarton House (The National Society of The Colonial Dames of America), Washington, D.C., 1974-1975.

1988: The Grand Tour: The Tradition of Patronage in Southern Art Museums, Montgomery, AL, 1988-1989, unnumbered

1989: Extended loan for use by Ambassador Walter Curley, U.S. Embassy residence, Paris, France, 1989-1993.

2000: Extended loan for use by Ambassador Philip Lader, U.S. Embassy residence, London, England, 2000-2001.

2001: William Beckford, 1760-1844: An Eye for the Magnificent, The Bard Graduate Center for Studies in the Decorative Arts, New York; Dulwich Picture Gallery, London, 2001-2002, no. 2, repro.

Bibliography

1801: Britton, John. The Beauties of Wiltshire. 10 vols. London, 1801: 1:230.

1805: "A Correct Catalogue of the Works of Mr. West." Public Characters of 1805. London, 1805: 561.

1805: "A Correct List of the Works of Mr. West." Universal Magazine 3 (1805): 528.

1808: "A Correct Catalogue of the Works of Benjamin West, Esq." La Belle Assemblée or Bell's Court and Fashionable Magazine 4, Supplement (1808): 14.

1820: Galt, John. "A Catalogue of the Works of Mr. West." The Life, Studies, and Works of Benjamin West, Esq.. London, 1820: 220.

1859: Redding, Cyrus, ed. Memoirs of William Beckford of Fonthill, Author of "Vathek". 2 vols. London, 1820: 2:369-370.

1893: Lansdown, H. V. Recollections of the Late William Beckford, of Fonthill, Wilts. and Lansdown, Bath. Edited by Charlotte Lansdown. Privately printed, 1893: 9.

1928: Portraits by Early American Artists of the Seventeenth, Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries, Collected by Thomas B. Clarke. Exh. cat. Philadelphia Museum of Art, 1928, unnumbered, as Elizabeth Beckford.

1937: Chapman, Guy. Beckford. New York, 1937: 9, repro. opp. 40, 244.

1954: Gardner, Albert Ten Eyck. "Beckford's Gothic Wests." Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 13 (October 1954): 41-49.

1970: American Paintings and Sculpture: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1970: 120, repro., as Mrs. William Beckford.

1975: Kraemer, Ruth. Drawings by Benjamin West and His Son Raphael Lamar West. New York, 1975: 71-72, no. 158, plates 86, 87.

1977: Dillenberger 1977, 151, no. 135.

1980: American Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1980: 255, repro., as Mrs. William Beckford.

1980: Hamilton-Phillips, Martha. "Benjamin West and William Beckford: Some Projects for Fonthill." Metropolitan Museum Journal 15 (1980): 157-174, repro.

1981: Williams, William James. A Heritage of American Paintings from the National Gallery of Art. New York, 1981: repro. 59.

1986: Von Erffa and Staley 1986, 107, 492-493, no. 594, repro.

1992: American Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1992: 378, repro., as Mrs. William Beckford.

1995: Miles, Ellen G. American Paintings of the Eighteenth Century. The Collections of the National Gallery of Art Systematic Catalogue. Washington, D.C., 1995: 344-348, color repro. 347.

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: 262.