Harvard Art Museums > 1960.156: Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826) (The Medallion Portrait) Paintings Collections Search Exit Deep Zoom Mode Zoom Out Zoom In Reset Zoom Full Screen Add to Collection Order Image Copy Link Copy Citation Citation"Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826) (The Medallion Portrait) (Gilbert Stuart) , 1960.156,” Harvard Art Museums collections online, Oct 10, 2024, https://hvrd.art/o/228021. Reuse via IIIF Toggle Deep Zoom Mode Download This object does not yet have a description. Gallery Text Jefferson sat for Gilbert Stuart twice: in May 1800 and in the spring of 1805. Three important portraits, including this bust profile of Jefferson’s head “à l’antique,” were produced. Jefferson’s granddaughter Ellen Wayles Randolph Coolidge called this “medallion” portrait “incomparable . . . the only likeness ever taken of him that gives a good idea of the original.” Jefferson served two terms as U.S. president, founded the University of Virginia, and drafted the Declaration of Independence and the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom. He also served as vice president, secretary of state, governor, and plenipotentiary to the court of Louis XVI. Though he was referred to as “The Apostle of Democracy,” Jefferson enslaved more than 300 artisans and laborers across his lifetime, calling them “those who labor for my happiness.” The toil of so many people gave Jefferson the resources and time to accomplish extraordinary things. Identification and Creation Object Number 1960.156 People Gilbert Stuart, American (North Kingstown, RI 1755 - 1828 Boston, MA) Title Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826) (The Medallion Portrait) Classification Paintings Work Type painting Date 1805 Places Creation Place: North America, United States Culture American Persistent Link https://hvrd.art/o/228021 Physical Descriptions Medium Oil and egg mixture on blue laid paper on canvas Technique Grisaille Dimensions 47.6 x 47.6 cm (18 3/4 x 18 3/4 in.) framed: 68 x 68.6 x 10.2 cm (26 3/4 x 27 x 4 in.) Provenance Recorded Ownership History From the artist to the sitter, Thomas Jefferson, 1805; to daughter Martha Jefferson Randolph; to her daughter Ellen Wayles Randolph Coolidge; to her son Thomas Jefferson Coolidge; to his daughter Sarah Lawrence Coolidge Newbold; to his son Thomas Jefferson Newbold, Harvard class of 1910, 1917; to his wife, Mrs. Thomas Jefferson Newbold; her gift to the Fogg Art Museum, 1960. Acquisition and Rights Credit Line Harvard Art Museums/Fogg Museum, Gift of Mrs. T. Jefferson Newbold and family, in memory of Thomas Jefferson Newbold, Class of 1910 Accession Year 1960 Object Number 1960.156 Division European and American Art Contact am_europeanamerican@harvard.edu Permissions The Harvard Art Museums encourage the use of images found on this website for personal, noncommercial use, including educational and scholarly purposes. To request a higher resolution file of this image, please submit an online request. Publication History Karl Bernhard, Duke of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach, Travels through North America, during the years 1825 and 1826, Carey, Lea and Carey (Philadelphia, PA, 1828), see under 11/26/1825 Clarence Winthrop Bowen, ed., History of the Centennial Celebration of the Inauguration of George Washington, D. Appleton & Co. (New York, NY, 1892), p. 485 George C. Mason, The Life and Works of Gilbert Stuart, Charles Scribner's Sons (New York, NY, 1894), pp. 207-208 Charles Henry Hart, "Life Portraits of Thomas Jefferson", McClure's Magazine (May 1898), p. 48 Lawrence Park, Gilbert Stuart: An lllustrated Descriptive List of His Works, vol. I - IV, W. E. Rudge (New York, NY, 1926), vol. I, p. 440, no. 442; vol. III, ill. p. 266 Historical Records Survey, Division of Professional and Service Projects, Works Progress Administration, American Portraits, 1620-1825, found in Massachusetts, Volumes 1 and 2, Historical Records Survey (Boston, MA, 1939), p. 222, cat. 1173 Thomas Jefferson Bicentennial Exhibition, exh. cat., National Gallery of Art (Washington, D.C, 1943), no. 8 Fiske Kimball, "Life Portraits of Thomas Jefferson and Their Replicas", Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society (1944), p. 521 "Notes on the Medallion Portrait of Thomas Jefferson by Gilbert Stuart", Unpublished (1957) "Accessions of American and Canadian Museums, July-September 1960", The Art Quarterly (Winter 1960), vol. XXIII, no. 4, ill. p. 398 Dorothy Adlow, "'Jefferson' Given to Harvard", The Christian Science Monitor (July 1, 1960), ill. p. 1 Jules David Prown, "Medallion Life Portrait of Jefferson, Painted by Gilbert Stuart 1805", Harvard Alumni Bulletin (Cambridge, MA, September 24, 1960), ill. p. 15 Alfred L. Bush, The Life Portraits of Thomas Jefferson, exh. cat., Thomas Jefferson Memorial Foundation (Charlottesville, VA, 1962), pp. 6, 75-77, no. 20, ill. p. 74 Stephen Xydis, "Classical Greek Tradition in Colonial America", Greek Heritage (After July 1964) Kenyon Castle Bolton, III, Peter G. Huenink, Earl A. Powell III, Harry Z. Rand, and Nanette C. Sexton, American Art at Harvard, exh. cat., Fogg Art Museum (Cambridge, MA, 1972), cat. 24, ill. Fiske Kimball, "The Stuart Portraits of Jefferson", Gazette des Beaux-Arts (June 1973), p. 343, 348 Karl Lehmann, Thomas Jefferson: American Humanist, University of Chicago Press (Chicago, IL and London, England, 1973), frontispiece Louise Todd Ambler, Benjamin Franklin: A Perspective, exh. cat., Fogg Art Museum (Cambridge, MA, 1975), pp. 100, 142, no. 86, ill. p. 100 Agnes Mongan, Harvard Honors Lafayette, exh. cat., Fogg Art Museum (Cambridge, MA, 1975), no. 35, ill. Clifford L. Egan, Neither Peace Nor War : Franco-American relations, 1803-1812, Louisiana State University Press (Baton Rouge, LA, 1983), ill. opp. p. 78 Richard McLanathan, Gilbert Stuart, Harry N. Abrams, Inc./National Museum of American Art (New York, NY and Washington DC, 1986), ill. p. 122 Mary Crawford Volk, John Singer Sargent's El Jaleo, exh. cat., National Gallery of Art (Washington, D.C, 1992), p. 70, fig. 40 David L. Ganz, "The New Jefferson", COINage, Miller Magazines, Inc. (June 1994), vol. 30, no. 6, p. 96 Carrie Rebora Barratt and Ellen G. Miles, Gilbert Stuart, exh. cat., Metropolitan Museum of Art / Yale University Press (New York, 2004), p. 284, fig. 79 Susan Rather, "Contrary Stuart", American Art (Spring 2010), vol. 24, no. 1, pp. 66-93, p. 85, fig. 15 Ann Lucas Birle and Lisa A. Francavilla, ed., Thomas Jefferson's Granddaughter in Queen Victoria's England: The Travel Diary of Ellen Wayles Coolidge, 1838-1839, Massachusetts Historical Society and Thomas Jefferson Foundation, Inc. (Boston and Charlottesville, 2011), repr. as fig. 14 Ellen Wayles Randolph Coolidge, Thomas Jefferson's Granddaughter in Queen Victoria's England: The Travel Diary of Ellen Wayles Coolidge, 1838-1839, ed. Ann Lucas Birle and Lisa A. Francavilla, Massachusetts Historical Society (Boston, MA, 2011), pp. x, xvii, 18, fig. 14 Theodore E. Stebbins, Jr. and Melissa Renn, American Paintings at Harvard, Volume One: Paintings, Watercolors, and Pastels by Artists Born before 1826, Yale University Press (U.S.) and Harvard Art Museums (Cambridge and New Haven, 2014), p. 33, 450-51, cat. 416, ill. Murray Whyte, "A History of Slavery, Vivdly Alive in the Present at Harvard", The Boston Globe (March 17, 2019), pp. N1, N6, p. N6 Lloyd DeWitt and Corey Piper, Thomas Jefferson Architect: Palladian Models, Democratic Principles, and the Conflict of Ideals, exh. cat., Chrysler Museum of Art (Norfolk, VA, 2019), p. 120, plate 1 James P. McClure, ed., The Papers of Thomas Jefferson, Volume 46 ; 4 March to 30 June 1802, Princeton University Press (Princeton and Oxford, 2022), repr., np. Exhibition History Unidentified Exhibition, Boston Athenaeum, 1828, Boston Athenaeum, Boston, 01/01/1828 - 12/31/1828 Loan Exhibition of Stuart's Works, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Boston, 05/01/1880 - 05/31/1880 Thomas Jefferson Bicentennial Exhibition, National Gallery of Art, Washington, 04/13/1943 - 05/15/1943 American Art at Harvard, Fogg Art Museum, Cambridge, 04/19/1972 - 06/18/1972 Benjamin Franklin: A Perspective, Fogg Art Museum, Cambridge, 04/17/1975 - 09/22/1975 Harvard Honors Lafayette, Fogg Art Museum, Cambridge, 12/03/1975 - 03/12/1976 Gilbert Stuart, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 10/18/2004 - 01/16/2005; National Gallery of Art, Washington, 03/27/2005 - 07/31/2005 Thomas Jefferson 264th Birthday Commemoration, Monticello, 04/13/2007 - 07/24/2013 32Q: 2240 18th Century, Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 11/16/2014 - 09/05/2019; Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 09/11/2023 - 08/06/2024 Thomas Jefferson Architect: Palladian Models, Democratic Principles, and the Conflict of Ideals, Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, 10/19/2019 - 01/19/2020 Subjects and Contexts Google Art Project Related Works Straus.8567 Artist of original: Gilbert Stuart X-radiograph(s) of "Thomas Jefferson" Photographs Verification Level This record has been reviewed by the curatorial staff but may be incomplete. Our records are frequently revised and enhanced. For more information please contact the Division of European and American Art at am_europeanamerican@harvard.edu