Object Record
Images
Metadata
Catalog Number |
1870.3.1 |
Collection |
U.S. Presidents |
Object Name |
Painting |
Title |
Ulysses Simpson Grant |
Artist |
Samuel Bell Waugh |
Date |
1869 |
Year Range from |
1869 |
Signed Name |
"S.B. Waugh. 1869." |
Signature Location |
lower right |
Description |
The artist painted this unusually vivid, lifelike oil sketch of Grant from life in 1869, possibly before Grant's inauguration as president because he is still wearing the general's uniform. As Arthur Edwin Bye observed, "Waugh has interpreted Grant at his best, in warm, rich, well-blended tones, with earnest expression. It is the man, not the hero nor President, who is presented here." |
Medium |
Oil on canvas |
Dimensions |
H-30 W-25.5 inches |
Notes |
This portrait was exhibited at the First Art Reception of The Union League in December 1870 as the property of Edward C. Knight, an early member of the Union League. Waugh served on the committee that organized the event. Another version of this portrait from 1869 is in the National Portrait Gallery, Washington, D.C.; it is unclear which one was exhibited at the Forty-sixth Annual Exhibition of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts that year, and listed as being owned by the Philadelphia art dealer James S. Earle. References: Whiteman 1978, p. 56, illus p. 51. Torchia 2005, pp. 56-57, color illus. |
Provenance |
Presented by Edward C. Knight |
Legal Status |
Owned by the Union League of Philadelphia |
People |
Grant, Ulysses S. |