Artwork
Matilda Caroline Cruger
Matilda Caroline Cruger is an oil painting. It dates from 1795 and is held in the collection of the National Gallery of Art.
About this work
Technique & Style
The available documentation identifies the artist only broadly as an American practitioner of the 18th century.
Executed in 1795, this portrait is an oil painting on canvas. The work measures 91.7 centimeters in height and 71.6 centimeters in width. Classified as a portrait, the piece depicts Matilda Caroline Cruger Yates Walton.
The available documentation identifies the artist only broadly as an American practitioner of the 18th century. While the physical dimensions and primary materials are recorded, specific details regarding the artist's handling of the paint, the condition of the support, or distinct stylistic qualities beyond its classification as a portrait are not elaborated upon in the provided records.
History & Provenance
The portrait is an oil on canvas painted in 1795, depicting Matilda Caroline Cruger Yates Walton. It is now held in the collection of the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., as part of the Andrew W. Mellon collection. Its earliest documented owner was Maria Taylor Hunt (Mrs. Ward Hunt) of Utica, New York, who lent it to the 1880 "Exhibition of Portraits Painted by Gilbert Stuart" in Boston.
It passed to her niece, Caroline Matilda Van Rensselaer Hillhouse, and then through the dealers Charles Henry Hart and Frank W. Bayley before being sold in 1917 to Franklin Bulkeley Smith. After Smith's estate was dispersed at auction in 1920, the painting was acquired for Thomas B. Clarke. In January 1936 it was sold through M. Knoedler & Co. to the A. W. Mellon Educational and Charitable Trust, which gifted it to the National Gallery of Art in 1942.
Overview
This oil on canvas painting, titled Matilda Caroline Cruger, presents a seated female figure within an interior setting. The work offers a glimpse into a past era through the subject's attire and the surrounding environment. The artist meticulously rendered the scene, emphasizing the details of the woman's clothing and the room's furnishings, thereby capturing a moment of quiet domesticity.
Subject & Meaning
The portrait depicts Matilda Caroline Cruger with a composed demeanor, seated within a domestic space. Her period dress and the room's appointments serve as visual documentation of historical fashion and interior design. The careful rendering of these elements, alongside her serene expression, suggests an intention to portray the subject not in a grand narrative, but rather within the context of her personal, everyday existence.
Artist & collection
- Mrs. Thomas Bartlett (Hannah Gray Wilson)
Catherine Yates Pollock (Mrs. George Pollock)
Ann Barry
Mrs. James Swan (Hepzibah Clarke)
Lady Delves Broughton
Mary Barry
Portrait of the Honorable Mrs. Beresford
Mrs. Perez Morton (Sarah Wentworth Apthorp)
Anna Maria Brodeau Thornton (Mrs. William Thornton)
Sarah Shippen Lea (Mrs. Thomas Lea)
Anne Willing Bingham
Mrs. Edward Hutchinson Robbins (Elizabeth Murray)