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Gilbert Stuart

Portrait of Samuel Dunn, 1809-1815

Now On View

Description

Maker

Title

Portrait of Samuel Dunn

Year

1809-1815

Medium

Oil on canvas

Materials/Techniques

Materials

Supports

Dimensions

69.9 x 57.2 cm (27 1/2 x 22 1/2 inches)

Place

United States

Type

Credit

Museum Appropriation Fund

Object Number

31.272

Projects & Publications

Publications

Selection VII

American Painting from the Museum's Collection, c.1800-1930

Exhibition History

Exhibition History

Making It In America

October 11, 2013 - February 9, 2014

The daughter of a successful brass-foundry owner, Sarah Cutler was 14 years younger than Samuel Dunn, a former seaman and ship’s captain, when they married in 1799 at Trinity Church, Boston. Stuart portrays Mr. Dunn as plump, scrubbed, and properly dressed; Mrs. Dunn is stylish in a turban and Kashmir shawl, and looks rather pleased with herself.

Like Sarah’s father, Samuel was a grandmaster of the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts Freemasons, and his more sober representation may intentionally emulate Stuart’s Athenaeum portrait of George Washington, America’s most distinguished Freemason. A version of the Athenaeum portrait hangs nearby.

Use

The images on this website can enable discovery and collaboration and support new scholarship, and we encourage their use. This object is in the public domain (CC0 1.0). This object is Portrait of Samuel Dunn with the accession number of 31.272. To request high-resolution files or new photography, please send an email to imagerequest@risd.edu and include your name and the object's accession number.