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Gilbert Stuart

Portrait of Samuel Dunn

Description

Maker

Gilbert Stuart (American, 1755-1828)

Title

Portrait of Samuel Dunn

Year

1809-1815

Medium

Materials/Techniques

Techniques

Materials

oil paint

Supports

Geography

Place Made: United States

Dimensions

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

Credit / Object Number

Credit

Museum Appropriation Fund

Object Number

31.272

Type

Projects & Publications

Publications

Exhibition History

Exhibition History

18th and 19th-Century American Galleries
Jun 19, 2015
Charles Pendleton House
Jan 02, 2015
Making It In America
Oct 11, 2013 – Feb 09, 2014

Label copy

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.

Romanticism and Revival
Nineteenth-Century American Art from the Permanent Collection
Dec 04, 1992 – Jun 26, 1993
Selection VII
American Paintings from the Museum's Collection, ca. 1800-1930
Mar 31, 1977 – May 08, 1977

Related Publications

Related Publications

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This object is in the Public Domain and available under a CC0 1.0 Universal (CC0 1.0) Public Domain Dedication

Tombstone

Gilbert Stuart (American, 1755-1828)
Portrait of Samuel Dunn, 1809-1815
Oil on canvas
69.9 x 57.2 cm (27 1/2 x 22 1/2 inches)
Museum Appropriation Fund 31.272

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