Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826)

ca. 1796-1798

Watercolor, black ink, graphite, and white gouache on card, with adhered etiquette

Overall: 9 1/2 × 13 1/2 in. (24.1 × 34.3 cm)

Purchase, The Louis Durr Fund

1923.10

Thomas Jefferson was the third president of the United States and served two terms from 1801 to 1808. Prior to his election, he was vice president under John Adams in Philadelphia, which then was the nation’s capital. Due to the youthful appearance of the sitter in Robert Field’s portrait, it is likely that Jefferson sat for the artist when he was vice president. Field’s monochromatic watercolor over a graphite underdrawing predates by over a decade the artist’s oval engraving of Gilbert Stuart’s famous Jefferson portrait (1805–7), which presents the statesman in a different coat and with more carefully coiffed hair and a stiff posture. Despite the lack of documentary evidence to substantiate that Field’s likeness was taken from life, this fact is all but assured because no other known portrait of the sitter could have served as a model. Further, the incomplete state of the watercolor, with its emphasis on the sitter’s head and powdered hair, argues for its execution from life. This large watercolor was, however, a departure for Field, who was more accustomed to working on a small scale. The painting’s size and inscriptions (including some imitating typography), as well as the subsequent etiquette in the lower left corner bearing Jefferson’s signature and title, suggest that Field planned to use the sheet as the model for an engraving—a project he abandoned after securing the commission for an oval engraving after Stuart’s portrait.

DescriptionPortrait

InscribedInscribed and signed by sitter at lower left on adhered etiquette with partial stamp […ngton…]; at lower left on etiquette in brown ink: "free[?] / Th. Jefferson Pr. US."; at lower right of center in graphite: "T. JEFFERSON. Painted by R. Field."; backing of old frame inscribed in black ink: "R. Field. The Artist. / London, England. To Charles Chauncey -- Atty at Law. / Philada Pa. U.S.A. / Charles Chauncey / to Thomas S. Mitchell / Philada. / Thomas S. Mitchell / to Thomas J. Miles. / Philadelphia. / Thomas Jefferson Miles / To Colonel Thomas Carswell Miles -- (his son) / Colonel Miles / To General J. Fred Pierson"

ClassificationsDRAWINGS