Artwork
Charlotte Morton Dexter (Mrs. Andrew Dexter)
Charlotte Morton Dexter (Mrs. Andrew Dexter) is an oil painting by the Romanticist artist Gilbert Stuart. It dates from 1808 and is held in the collection of the National Gallery of Art.
About this work
Charlotte Morton Dexter sits calmly in a chair, dressed in a gown and hat. Stuart began the portrait in 1808 and may not have finished it until around 1825, working at it over many years.
Subject & Meaning
The painting is a likeness of Charlotte Morton Dexter, wife of merchant Andrew Dexter, and functions as a visual record of her family’s social position in early‑American society. Executed by Gilbert Stuart around 1808–1825, the work follows the conventional portrait genre of the period, presenting the sitter in modest attire against an unadorned background that emphasizes respectability rather than overt symbolism. As a portrait of a prominent Federal‑era family, it conveys notions of domestic virtue, lineage, and the inherited status of the Dexter‑Morton line, serving both as a familial memorial and a statement of cultural standing.
Technique & Style
Mellon collection, where its physical dimensions and material composition are documented as part of the institution's records.
Gilbert Stuart executed the portrait of Charlotte Morton Dexter using oil paint applied to a wooden panel support. Created circa 1808 or possibly as late as 1825, the work measures 74.2 cm in height and 60.2 cm in width. As a formal portrait, it adheres to the artist's characteristic style of capturing the sitter's likeness with refined brushwork on a rigid panel rather than canvas.
The medium of oil on wood is consistent with Stuart's practice during this period, though the specific date remains debated between the early 19th century and the mid-1820s. The painting is currently held in the National Gallery of Art's Andrew W. Mellon collection, where its physical dimensions and material composition are documented as part of the institution's records.
History & Provenance
Gilbert Stuart painted this oil-on-wood portrait of Charlotte Morton Dexter, with a creation date recorded as 1808 or circa 1825. Following the sitter's lifetime, the work remained within her immediate family, passing to her daughter, Charlotte Dexter, in Montgomery, Alabama. Subsequent ownership transferred to her brother, Andrew Alfred Dexter, or his widow, Sarah Williams Dexter, before reaching their granddaughter, Charlotte Morton Campbell Longino Howell, in New Orleans and Galveston, Texas.
Howell sold the painting to M. Knoedler & Co. in 1920, and it was acquired by Thomas B. Clarke of New York on May 31, 1921. Upon Clarke's death, the portrait was sold from his estate through Knoedler on January 29, 1936, to The A. W. Mellon Educational and Charitable Trust in Pittsburgh. The Trust officially gifted the work to the National Gallery of Art in 1947.
The portrait of Charlotte Morton Dexter (Mrs. Andrew Dexter) painted by Gilbert Stuart around 1808–1825 is currently held by the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. It entered the museum’s collection in 1947 as a gift from the A. W. Mellon Educational and Charitable Trust, becoming part of the Andrew W. Mellon collection (inventory listed under the Trust’s donation). Provenance records trace the work from the sitter’s descendants through sales to M. Knoedler & Co., then to Thomas B. Clarke, and finally to Mellon before donation. The provided documentation does not mention any specific exhibition history for the painting.
Overview
This oil on wood portrait by Gilbert Stuart, titled Charlotte Morton Dexter (Mrs. Andrew Dexter), was initiated around 1808. The painting presents its subject, Charlotte Morton Dexter, seated in a chair, dressed in a gown and hat. Stuart's depiction emphasizes her serene and composed demeanor, characteristic of the artist's approach to capturing individual personalities.
Own this work as a print
Artist & collection
Artist
Gilbert Stuart (né Stewart; December 3, 1755 – July 9, 1828) was an American painter born in the Rhode Island Colony who is widely considered one of America's foremost portraitists.
Sarah Blake Sturgis
Mrs. John Clarke Howard (Hepzibah Swan)
Eleanor Parke Custis Lewis (Mrs. Lawrence Lewis)
Anna Powell Mason (Mrs. Patrick Grant)
Mrs. John Biddle (Eliza Falconer Bradish)
Matilda Caroline Cruger
Ann Calvert Stuart Robinson (Mrs. William Robinson)
Mrs. Thomas Bartlett (Hannah Gray Wilson)