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Gilbert Stuart

Mary Barry, 1803/1805

West Building, Ground Floor — Gallery G42-C

Medium

oil on canvas

Dimensions

overall: 74.3 x 61.6 cm (29 1/4 x 24 1/4 in.)

framed: 95.2 x 82.5 x 8.8 cm (37 1/2 x 32 1/2 x 3 7/16 in.)

Credit Line

Gift of Jean McGinley Draper

Accession Number

1954.9.4

Artists / Makers

Gilbert Stuart (painter) American, 1755 - 1828

Image Use

This image is in the public domain.
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Overview

Information on this painting can be found in the Gallery publication American Paintings of the Eighteenth Century, pages 233-235, which is available as a free PDF https://www.nga.gov/content/dam/ngaweb/research/publications/pdfs/american-paintings-18th-century.pdf

Provenance

Bequeathed by the sitter's mother, Joanna Barry [d. 1811], Washington, D.C., to her nephew, James David Barry [1774-1849], Washington, D.C.;[1] by descent to George Worthen Whistler [b. 1851], Baltimore;[2] sold by G. D. Whistler at (Christie, Manson & Woods, London, 4 February 1927, no. 63); bought by "Barry."[3] Sold by (Daniel H. Farr Co., New York and Philadelphia) to Edward Small Moore [1881-1948], New York, 1927;[4] his wife, Jean McGinley Moore Draper [Mrs. Charles Dana Draper, 1884/1885-1954], New York;[5] bequest 1954 to NGA.

[1] Mrs. Barry died in Washington on 18 October 1811; Federal Gazette and Baltimore Daily Advertiser, 21 October 1811 (obituary). Her will (Office of Public Records, Washington) bequeathes "also to the same James D. Barry his uncles, my own and two dear childrens likenesses done by Steward. . . ." For James David Barry's dates see his obituary in the (Washington) Daily National Intelligencer, 16 August 1849.

[2] George C. Mason, The Life and Works of Gilbert Stuart, New York, 1879, 134; Lawrence Park, Gilbert Stuart: An Illustrated Descriptive List of his Works, with an Account of his Life by John Hill Morgan and an Appreciation by Royal Cortissoz, 4 vols, New York, 1926, 133. George Worthen Whistler was the great-grandson of Robert Barry, brother of James David Barry. Robert Barry's daughter Joanna married Julius Timolean Ducatel in 1824. Their daughter Mary married George William Whistler, older step-brother of painter James McNeill Whistler, in 1848. Their son George Worthen Whistler was born in 1851 (letter from Dr. Nigel Thorp, Glasgow University Library, Scotland, 19 March 1991; NGA curatorial file). According to the 1880 Baltimore census, George Worthen Whistler lived at 56 Bolton Street with his wife Esther A. and daughter Esther M. The census notes that he was "not w any business." Mrs. G.W. Whistler is listed as the owner in Museum of Fine Arts, "Portraits Painted by Stuart...taken from Mason's Life and Works of Gilbert Stuart," Exhibition of Portraits Painted by Gilbert Stuart, Boston, 1880, 30, no. 46.

[3] "Barry" was either a pseudonym or the name of an agent for A. L. Nicholls; see memo from Jeremy Rex-Parkes, archivist, Christie, Manson & Woods, London, 15 March 1991 (NGA curatorial file), an annotated copy of Christie's catalogue (photocopy, NGA curatorial file), and Art Prices Current, N.s., vol. 6 (1926-1927), 128.

[4] Sales receipt dated 15 December 1927 (NGA curatorial file); for Moore's dates see The New York Times, 28 September 1948 (obituary).

[5] The paintings (see also NGA 1954.9.3) were first documented in the collection of Jean McGinley Moore Draper in March 1937 when they were stored at M. Knoedler & Co. in New York; letter from Melissa De Medeiros, librarian, M. Knoedler & Co., 18 January 1991 (NGA curatorial file). For Mrs. Draper's dates see The New York Times, 27 September 1954 (obituary).

Associated Names

Barry
Barry, James David
Barry, Joanna
Christie, Manson & Woods, Ltd.
Draper, Charles D., Mrs.
Farr Co., Daniel H.
Moore, Edward Small
Whistler, G.D.
Whistler, George Worthen

Exhibition History

1876: Probably Charity Art Exhibition, Academy of Music, Baltimore, 1876, no. 433, as Miss Barry.

1935: Loan Exhibition of Portraits for the Benefit of the Post Graduate Hospital, Daniel H. Farr Company, New York, 1935, no. 13

1957: Extended loan for use by Ambassador Amory Houghton, U.S. Embassy residence, Paris, France, 1957-1961.

1964: Extended loan for use by Blair House, Washington, D.C., 1964-1984.

1984: Extended loan for use by Ambassador Gerald P. Carmen, U.S. Ambassador to the UN Mission residence, Geneva, Switzerland, 1984-1989.

1989: Extended loan for use by Ambassador Morris B. Abram, U.S. Ambassador to the UN Mission residence, Geneva, Switzerland, 1989-1993 (painting returned to NGA between February and July 1990).

2004: Gilbert Stuart, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; National Gallery of Art (for the National Portrait Gallery), Washington, D.C., 2004-2005, fig. 150 (shown only in Washington for second half of exhibition there).

Bibliography

1879: Mason, George C. The Life and Works of Gilbert Stuart. New York, 1879: 133-134.

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: 30, no. 47.

1926: Park 1926, 135, no. 60.

1942: Clark, Allen C. "Captain James Barry." Records of the Columbia Historical Society of Washington, D.C.. 42-43 (1942): 12-13, repro. opp. 5.

1970: American Paintings and Sculpture: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1970: 102, repro.

1973: Mount, Charles Merrill. "Gilbert Stuart in Washington; with a Catalogue of His Portraits Painted between December 1803 and July 1805." Records of the Columbia Historical Society of Washington, D.C. 48 (1973): repro. 97, 111, 124.

1980: American Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1980: 228, repro.

1992: American Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1992: 352, 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: 233-235, color repro. 234.