Portrait of a Boy
Framed: 30 3/4 × 27 1/4 × 3 1/4 inches (78.11 × 69.22 × 8.26 cm)
- 125
Sculpture by Houdon, Paintings and Drawings by David, The Century Association, New York, February 19-April 10, 1947, no. 25, as by Jacques Louis David, as Portrait of a Young Boy.
The Century of Mozart, The Nelson Gallery and Atkins Museum, Kansas City, MO, January 15-March 4, 1956, no. 22, as by Jacques Louis David, as Portrait of a Boy.
The French Portrait: Revolution to Restoration, Smith College Museum of Art, Northampton, MA, September 30-December 11, 2005, no. 39, as attributed to Marie Françoise Constance Mayer La Martinière, as Portrait of a Boy.
An adolescent boy gazes steadily at the viewer. His rosy complexion and unblemished skin emphasize his youthfulness, but his costume resembles that of an adult male, as was typical of children’s fashion in this period. The boy’s small hoop earring—his only accessory—enjoyed a particular vogue in turn-of-the-century France.
Although the artist and sitter have yet to be identified, the technique and type of subject suggest that this likeness was painted by Constance Mayer, a Parisian female portraitist.
Loyer, Bièvres, France, by June 1930;
Purchased from Loyer by Wildenstein Gallery, New York, June 1930-January 28, 1931 [1];
Purchased from Wildenstein by The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, 1931.
Notes:
[1] Letter from Eliot Rowlands, Wildenstein and Company, Inc., to Meghan Gray, May 12, 2011, NAMA curatorial files.
“A Big Gallery Addition: Rembrandt and Hals Paintings to Nelson Group,” The Kansas City Star 51, no. 148 (February 12, 1931): 3, erroneously as by Jacques Louis David [sic].
“Half-Million for Art: A Rembrandt in New Purchases for Nelson Gallery,” The Kansas City Star 51, no. 156 (February 20, 1931): 3, erroneously as by Jacques Louis David.
“Nelson Trust Pays Million for Art,” Jackson, Mississippi paper (February 20, 1931): clipping, scrapbook, vol. 1, p.49, NAMA archives, erroneously as by Jacques Louis David.
“Camera Records News Events Here and in Other Parts of the World,” Kansas City Journal-Post 77, no. 284 (March 18, 1931): 26, (repro.), erroneously as by Jacques Louis David, as Portrait of a Young Boy.
“Add Seven Artworks: Group for Nelson Gallery on View at Institute,” The Kansas City Star 51, no. 182 (March 18, 1931): 15, erroneously as by Jacques Louis David, as Portrait of a Young Boy.
“Art,” The Kansas City Times 94, no. 67 (March 19, 1931): 7, erroneously as by Jacques Louis David, as Portrait of a Young Boy.
“Parsons Makes More Purchases for Kansas City,” The Art News 29, no. 26 (March 28, 1931): 3, (repro.), erroneously as by Jacques Louis David [sic], as Portrait of a Boy in a Blue Jacket.
“More Works of Art Purchased for the Nelson Gallery of Art,” Unknown Paper (April 5, 1931), clipping, Scrapbook, vol. 1, p. 66, NAMA Archives, (repro.), erroneously as by Jacques Louis David [sic], as Portrait of a Young Boy.
“What to See In Kansas City: A guide to principal Points of Interest Presented in the Style of A Baedeker,” The Kansas City Star 52, no. 101 (December 27, 1931): 3C, as Portrait of a Young Boy.
“Treasure in Lore of Art: ‘Read,’ says Parsons to Those who would Appreciate Works,” The Kansas City Times 95, no. 10 (January 12, 1932): 2, erroneously as by Jacques Louis David.
“Nelson Art Treasures Draw Admiring Throng: Thousands Flock to Temporary Exhibition of Paintings at the Kansas City Art Institute Every Day,” The Weekly Kansas City Star 42, no. 48 (January 27, 1932): 4, erroneously as by Jacques Louis David.
“M. Claudel in Rich Land: A Desire to See Harvest Expressed by Ambassador,” The Kansas City Times 95, no. 70 (March 22, 1932): 11, erroneously as by Jacques Louis David.
“Nelson Gallery of Art Special Number,” The Art Digest 8, no. 5 (December 1, 1933): 13, 21, erroneously as by Jacques Louis David, as Portrait of a Young Boy.
“Complete Catalogue of Paintings and Drawings,” The Art News 32, no. 10 (December 9, 1933): 28, erroneously as by Jacques Louis David, as Portrait of a Young Boy.
Alfred M. Frankfurter, “Paintings in the William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art,” The Art News 32, no. 10 (December 9, 1933): 30, 44, (repro.), erroneously as by Jacques Louis David, as Portrait of a Young Boy.
Minna K. Powell, “The First Exhibition of the Great Art Treasures: Paintings and Sculpture, Tapestries and Panels, Period Rooms and Beautiful Galleries Are Revealed in the Collections Now Housed in the Nelson-Atkins Museum,” The Kansas City Star 54, no. 84 (December 10, 1933): 4C, erroneously as by Jacques Louis David, as Portrait of a Young Boy.
“Nelson Gallery of Art Opened at Kansas City: $14,000,000 Gift of ‘Star’ Publisher and His Heirs Already Fully Furnished; Has Many Innovations; Oriental, Roman, Colonial Objects World Famous,” New York Herald Tribune 93, no. 31,802 (December 11, 1933): 12, erroneously as by Jacques Louis David.
Luigi Vaiani, “Art Dream Becomes Reality with Official Gallery Opening at Hand: Critic Views Wide Collection of Beauty as Public Prepares to Pay its First Visit to Museum,” Kansas City Journal Post 80, no. 187 (December 11, 1933): 7, erroneously as by Jacques Louis David.
“Praises the Gallery: Dr. Nelson M’Cleary, Noted Artist, a Visitor,” The Kansas City Star 54, no. 98 (December 24, 1933): 9A, erroneously as by Jacques Louis David, as Portrait of a Boy.
The William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art and Mary Atkins Museum of Fine Arts, Handbook of the William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art (Kansas City, MO: William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art and Mary Atkins Museum of Art, 1933), 41, 48, (repro.), erroneously as by Jacques Louis David, as Portrait of a Young Boy.
A. J. Philpott, “Kansas City Now in Art Center Class: Nelson Gallery, Just Opened, Contains Remarkable Collection of Paintings, Both Foreign and American,” The Boston Sunday Globe 125, no. 14 (January 14, 1934): 16, erroneously as by Jacques Louis David.
Musical Bulletin (March 1936), clipping, Scrapbook, NAMA Archives, erroneously as by Jacques Louis David, as Young Boy.
The William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art and Mary Atkins Museum of Fine Arts, The William Rockhill Nelson Collection, 2nd ed. (Kansas City, MO: William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art and Mary Atkins Museum of Fine Arts, 1941), 168, as Portrait of a Young Boy.
“Loans to Other Museums,” Gallery News (The William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art and Mary Atkins Museum of Fine Arts) 13, no. 7 (April 1947): unpaginated, erroneously as by Jacques Louis David, as Portrait of a Young Boy.
Sculpture by Houdon, Paintings and Drawings by David, exh. cat. (New York: Century Association, 1947), unpaginated, (repro.), erroneously as by Jacques Louis David, as Portrait of a Young Boy.
French XVIIIth Century Paintings (New York: Wildenstein, 1948), unpaginated, erroneously as by Jacques Louis David, as Portrait of a Young Boy.
“The Century of Mozart,” Bulletin special issue, 1, no. 1, exh. cat. (The Nelson Gallery and Atkins Museum) (January 1956): 26, erroneously as by Jacques Louis David, as Portrait of a Boy.
The William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art and Mary Atkins Museum of Fine Arts, Handbook of the Collections in the William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art and Mary Atkins Museum of Fine Arts, Kansas City, Missouri, 4th ed. (Kansas City, MO: William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art and Mary Atkins Museum of Fine Arts, 1959), 117, (repro.), erroneously as by Jacques Louis David [sic], as Portrait of a Young Boy.
Maurice Grosser, “Art,” The Nation 191 (July 9, 1960): 38, erroneously as by Jacques Louis David.
Donald Hoffmann, “The Nelson Gallery 40 Years (and More) Seeking Beauty,” The Kansas City Star 94, no. 83 (December 9, 1973): 4E, erroneously as by Jacques Louis David, as Young Boy.
Donald Hoffmann, “Throwing Suspicion on the Masters: Nelson’s Curator Reassesses Status, Authenticity of Art,” The Kansas City Star 107, no. 263 (July 26, 1987): 1D, 6D, (repro.), as Portrait of a Young Boy.
Margaret A. Oppenheimer, The French Portrait: Revolution to Restoration, exh. cat. (Northampton, MA: Smith College Museum of Art, 2005), 154-57, 219n5 (no. 39), (repro.), as attributed to Marie Françoise Constance Mayer La Martinière, as Portrait of a Boy.
Kathryn Calley Galitz reattributes the painting to Romany in her forthcoming entry: Kathryn Calley Galitz, “Attributed to Adèle Romany (Former attribution: Jacques Louis David), Portrait of a Boy, 1799,” catalogue entry, May 2020, in French Paintings and Pastels, 1600–1945: The Collections of The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, ed. Aimee Marcereau DeGalan (Kansas City, MO: Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, 2025), doi: 10.37764/78973.5.420.
