John Ashley

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John Ashley

Artist Gilbert Stuart (American, 1755-1828)

Date1799

DimensionsFrame: 38 × 33 1/4 × 4 in. (96.5 × 84.5 × 10.2 cm)

Mediumoil on canvas

ClassificationPaintings

Credit LineGift of Florence Scott Libbey

Object number

1912.12

Not on View

Label TextThe addition of personal items to this portrait gives a clue to the interests and occupation of John Ashley (1754–1831), a London-born agent and merchant living in Philadelphia. He holds a creased sheet of paper (a letter?) and rests his elbow near a stack of books atop of which rests a glass inkwell and a quill. We can make out part of the obscured title on the spine of the thickest book: “U.S.” and “1799” (the date of the painting). By the late 1700s, portraits emphasizing individual personality had become fashionable. Gilbert Stuart, born in Rhode Island, developed a successful career in London painting this type of portrait. He returned to the Unites States in 1793, where his London experience made him the most sought-after artist in the country. His client list included such important people as Thomas Jefferson, Abigail Adams, and George and Martha Washington (the picture of Washington on the dollar bill is based on Stuart’s portrait of the first president).Published ReferencesBrunner, Charles, Gallery Catalogue, Paris, 1910, no. 17, repr.

The Toledo Museum of Art Museum News, no. 20, Dec. 1912, pp. 1-2, repr. p. 1.

Fielding, M., "Paintings by Gilbert Stuart not Mentioned in Mason's Life of Stuart," Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, XXXVIII, no. I, 1914, p. 320, no. 34.

Park, L., Gilbert Stuart, New York, 1926, I, pp. 114-115, II, p. 926, III, pl. 35.

Lee, C., Early American Portrait Painters, New Haven, 1929, p. 32.

The Toledo Museum of Art Museum News, no. 82, June 1938, pp. 15-16, repr. p. 9.

Rogers, Millard F., Jr., "Artists of a New Nation," The Toledo Museum of Art Museum News, vol. 2, no. 2, Autumn 1959, p. 8.

Mount, C., Gilbert Stuart, A Biography, New York, 1964, p. 364.

Young, Mahonri Sharp, "From Howling Wilderness to Queensborough Bridge," Apollo, vol. 86, no. 70, Dec. 1967, p. 497.

Toledo Museum of Art, The Toledo Museum of Art, American Paintings, Toledo, 1979, pp. 103-104, pl. 10.

Exhibition HistorySan Francisco, M. H. de Young Memorial Museum, Exhibition of American Painting, 1935, no. 25, repr.

Indianapolis, John Herron Art Institute,Retrospective Exhibition of Portraits by Gilbert Stuart, 1942, no. 17, repr.