Read the visual description
The head and shoulders of a man with light skin and gray hair nearly fills this vertical portrait painting. Shown against a peanut-brown background, the man’s shoulders are angled to our left, and he looks off to our right with blue eyes. His gray hair curls around his forehead and over his ears. His bushy gray eyebrows gather over a furrowed brow, and sideburns grow down past his earlobes. His long, straight, slightly hooked nose and high cheekbones are set into his long, oval-shaped face. His pink lips are closed over a rounded chin, which is framed by vertical wrinkles. The white edge of a collar peeks above the high neck of a velvety black garment with wide lapels. The area beneath the man’s shoulders is a dark ivory color, perhaps indicating that this painting is unfinished.
National Gallery of Art · Painting
Andrew Jackson
Thomas Sully
- Date
- 1845
- Medium
- oil on canvas
- Dimensions
- overall: 51.8 x 43.8 cm (20 3/8 x 17 1/4 in.) framed: 74.9 x 66.7 cm (29 1/2 x 26 1/4 in.)
- Classification
- Painting
- Accession number
- 1942.8.34
- Credit line
- Andrew W. Mellon Collection
- Time span
- 1826 to 1850
- Department
- CAB
Subjects and terms
- painted surface
- American
- male
- portrait
- Realist
- American Paintings of the Nineteenth Century, Part II [M-Z]
- Jackson, Andrew
Provenance
Francis Preston Blair [1791-1876], Silver Spring, Maryland; his son-in-law, Rear Admiral Samuel Phillips Lee [1812-1897], Silver Spring, Maryland; his wife, Elizabeth Blair Lee [1818-1906], Silver Spring, Maryland; her son, Blair Lee [1857-1944], Silver Spring, Maryland; sold 1932 or 1933 to (M. Knoedler & Co., New York); sold 29 June 1934 to The A.W. Mellon Educational and Charitable Trust, Pittsburgh;[1] gift 1942 to NGA. [1] NGA records have two dates for this purchase. The 7 July 1934 date is given in the master list of objects deeded to and purchased by the Trust (original in NGA Secretary-General Counsel's office). A letter of 27 May 1960 from the Trust to William Campbell gives the purchase date as 29 June 1934. It could be that the earlier date is the date of the invoice, and the later date is the date of the check for payment.
NGA object ID 1128. Collection metadata is reproduced under CC0. This work is included because its NGA published-image record is marked open access; visitors should recheck the source record before substantial reuse.