General Gabriel Christie

Artist Ralph Earl (American, 1751 - 1801)

Dateca. 1784

MediumOil on canvas

DimensionsUnframed: 82 × 53 1/2 inches (208.28 × 135.89 cm)
Framed: 84 × 55 1/4 × 2 1/8 inches (213.36 × 140.34 × 5.4 cm)

Credit LinePurchase: William Rockhill Nelson Trust

Object number33-169

SignedNone.

On View

On view

Gallery Location

Collections

American Art

Terms

DescriptionStanding figure of man in blue coat, yellow breeches, waistcoat, holding black hat and cane, landscape background.Exhibition History

Exhibition History

An Exhibition of Paintings by Ralph Earl (1751–1801), Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, October 16, 1945–November 21, 1945; Worcester Art Museum, December 13, 1945–January 13, 1946, no. 9.

The Century of Mozart, William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art and Mary Atkins Museum of Fine Arts, Kansas City, Mo., January 15–March 4, 1956, no. 31.

Kaleidoscope of American Painting: Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries, William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art and Mary Atkins Museum of Fine Arts, Kansas City, Mo., December 2, 1977–January 22, 1978, no. 12.

Gallery Label

During the American Revolution, Ralph Earl fled Connecticut for England due to his Loyalist sympathies. Through his patron John Money and the artist Benjamin West, Earl soon gained numerous portrait commissions from important military personnel, including Gabriel Christie, one of Canada's largest landholders prior to being stationed in London in 1776.

Earl's commanding image of Christie derives from contemporary English portrait painting that was elegant but informal. Engaging the viewer directly, Christie stands straight-backed with his walking stick driven into the ground in a pose that reflects his gentlemanly status. The loosely brushed pastoral landscape may depict the area around Windsor Castle, where Earl spent the summer of 1784 as part of Benjamin West's large circle.

Provenance

Probably Lucien Sharpe;

(American Art Association, Anderson Galleries, New York, 12 November 1931, lot 53);

to (Plaza Curiosity Shop, New York, November 1931);

to Karl Loevenich, New York, by May 1933; to NAMA, 1933.

Published References

American Art Association, Anderson Galleries, New York, November 12, 1931, lot 53.

“Auction Prices of the Week,” Art News 30 (November 28, 1931), 23.

American Art Sales 12 (December 1931), 11.

“American Painting,” Art Digest 8 (December 1, 1933), 16.

“The Acquisitions,” Art Digest 8 (December 1, 1933), 16, 21.

“The William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art: Complete Catalogue of Paintings and Drawings,” Art News 32 (December 9, 1933), 28.

Handbook of the William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art (Kansas City, Mo.: William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art and Mary Atkins Museum of Fine Arts, 1933), 121, 123, 137.

The William Rockhill Nelson Collection, 2^nd ed. (Kansas City, Mo.: William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art and Mary Atkins Museum of Fine Arts, 1941), 150, 166.

William Sawitzky, An Exhibition of Paintings by Ralph Earl (1751–1801), exh. cat. (New York: Whitney Museum of American Art, 1945), unpaginated.

Carlyle Burrows, “Art of the Week,” New York Herald Tribune, October 21, 1945, V7.

The William Rockhill Nelson Collection, 3^rd. ed. (Kansas City, Mo.: William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art and Mary Atkins Museum of Fine Arts, 1949), 196 (as Portrait of General Gabriel Christie).

The Century of Mozart, exh. cat. (Kansas City, Mo.: William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art and Mary Atkins Museum of Fine Arts, 1956), 11, 27, 67.

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