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John Singleton Copley

Elizabeth Gray Otis (Mrs. Samuel Alleyne Otis), c. 1764

West Building, Main Floor — Gallery 62

Medium

oil on canvas

Dimensions

overall: 78.7 x 69.2 cm (31 x 27 1/4 in.)

framed: 92.7 x 83.8 x 7.6 cm (36 1/2 x 33 x 3 in.)

Credit Line

Gift of the Honorable and Mrs. Robert H. Thayer

Accession Number

1980.11.1

Artists / Makers

John Singleton Copley (painter) American, 1738 - 1815

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 30-34, which is available as a free PDF https://www.nga.gov/content/dam/ngaweb/research/publications/pdfs/american-paintings-18th-century.pdf

Provenance

The sitter's grandson, James William Otis [1800-1869], New York;[1] his son, William Church Otis [1831-1889], Nahant, Massachusetts;[2] his son, Harrison Gray Otis [1856-1915], Nahant and Needham, Massachusetts;[3] his son William Alleyne Otis, [b. 1895], Boston.[4] His cousin Robert Helyer Thayer [1901-1984] and Virginia Pratt Thayer [Mrs. Robert Helyer Thayer, d. 1979], Washington, D.C.;[5] bequest 1980 to NGA.

[1] The presumed provenance is from the sitter to her son Harrison Gray Otis [1765-1848], father of James William Otis, first owner of record (1853); see William A. Otis, A Genealogical and Historical Memoir of the Otis Family in America, (Chicago, 1924), 106, 141, 202. This portrait shares its provenance with those of the sitter's father Harrison Gray by Copley [NGA 1976.25.1] and husband Samuel Alleyne Otis by Gilbert Stuart [NGA 1980.11.2].

[2] Augustus Thorndike Perkins, A Sketch of the Life and a List of Some of the Works of John Singleton Copley, (Boston, 1873), 68; for William's dates see Otis 1924, 341.

[3] Clarence Winthrop Bowen, The History of the Centennial Celebration of the Inauguration of George Washington as First President of the United States, (New York, 1892), 517; Frank W. Bayley, The Life and Works of John Singleton Copley, (Boston, 1915), 123. For Harrison's dates and places of residence see Otis 1924, 495. Records in the registrar's office, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, show that the painting was owned from 1917 to 1926 by Robert H. Gardiner, Robert H. Gardiner, Jr., and William Tudor Gardiner (Jennifer Abel, letter, 14 November 1990, in NGA curatorial files), perhaps as trustees or executors of the estate of Harrison Gray Otis.

[4] Barbara Neville Parker and Anne Bolling Wheeler, John Singleton Copley: American Portraits in Oil, Pastel, and Miniature with Biographical Sketches, (Boston, 1938), 88; for William's birthdate see Otis 1924, 608.

[5] Otis 1924, 496. Thayer was the son of Harrison Gray Otis' sister Violet Otis Thayer. The painting was delivered to the Thayers on 22 June 1949 by the Museum of Fine Arts on the authority of William A. Otis. Thayer is in Who's Who in America, 38th ed. (Chicago, 1974), 3056, and The New York Times Biographical Service 15 (1984), 143. Mrs. Thayer's date of death is in the NGA curatorial file. A copy was painted for the donors by Adrian Lamb in 1976.

Associated Names

Gardiner, Jr., Robert H.
Gardiner, Robert H.
Gardiner, William Tudor
Otis, Harrison Gray
Otis, James William
Otis, William Alleyne
Otis, William Church
Thayer, Robert H., Mrs.

Exhibition History

1854: The Washington Exhibition in aid of the New-York Gallery of the Fine Arts, at the American Art-Union Gallery, New York, 1854, no. 45.

1892: Old State-House, Boston, 1892.

1896: Loan Collection of Portraits for the benefit of the Associated Charities and the North End Union, Copley Society, Boston, 1896, no. 52.

1910: Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 1910-1949.

1975: American Portraits by John Singleton Copley, Hirschl & Adler Galleries, New York, 1975-1976, no. 14.

Bibliography

1854: The Washington Exhibition in aid of the New-York Gallery of the Fine Arts, at the American Art-Union Gallery, Exh. cat. New York, 1854: no. 45. [See Yarnall and Gerdts 1986, 1:828.]

1873: Perkins, Augustus Thorndike. A Sketch of the Life and a List of Some of the Works of John Singleton Copley. Boston, 1873: 91.

1892: Bowen, Clarence Winthrop. The History of the Centennial Celebration of the Inauguration of George Washington as First President of the United States. New York, 1892: 517, repro. opp. 172.

1896: Loan Collection of Portraits for the benefit of the Associated Charities and the North End Union, Exh. cat. Copley Society, Boston, 1896: no. 52.

1915: Bayley, Frank W. The Life and Works of John Singleton Copley. Boston, 1915: 190.

1924: Otis, William A. A Genealogical and Historical Memoir of the Otis Family in America. Chicago, 1924: 106, repro. 108.

1930: Bolton, Theodore and Harry Lorin Binsse. "John Singleton Copley." The Antiquarian 15 (December 1930): 118, owner erroneously listed as Robert H. Gardiner.

1938: Parker, Barbara Neville and Anne Bolling Wheeler. John Singleton Copley; American Portraits in Oil, Pastel, and Miniature with Biographical Sketches. Boston, 1938: 147-148, pl. 52.

1966: Prown, Jules David. John Singleton Copley, vol. 1. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1966, pp. 40, 45, 111, 160-161, 225, fig. 137.

1969: Morison, Samuel Eliot. Harrison Gray Otis, 1765-1848, The Urbane Federalist. Boston, 1969: 6, 22-33, repro. 26.

1975: American Portraits by John Singleton Copley. Exh. cat. Hirschl & Adler Galleries, New York, 1975-1976: no. 14.

1981: Williams, William James. A Heritage of American Paintings from the National Gallery of Art. New York, 1981: 22, color repro. 1.

1992: American Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1992: 148, 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: 30-34, repro. 31.