TitleWilliam Dunlap
Artist
Charles Cromwell Ingham
(American, 1796 - 1863)
Date1838-1839
MediumOil on canvas
DimensionsUnframed: 30 × 25 in.
Framed: 37 3/4 × 32 7/8 × 3 1/2 in.
SubmissionNA diploma presentation, [May 8, 1839?]
Credit LineNational Academy of Design, New York, NY
Object number624-P
Label TextThe artist, historian, and playwright William Dunlap (1766-1839) was born in Perth Amboy, N.J. He displayed an early interest in painting, and in 1784 he travelled to London to study under Benjamin West at the Royal Academy. Upon returning to the United States in 1787 he began working as a portraitists, but by 1793 his interests had shifted to the American theatre. Although Dunlap continued to work sporadically as a portrait and miniature painter, most of his energies were devoted to writing plays and working as the manager of the New-York Theatre. In 1812, however, he resumed working as a miniaturist and in 1816 he commenced exhibiting his work at the American Academy of Fine Arts. During the following years Dunlap travelled extensively along the Atlantic seaboard and received numerous commissions for his miniatures and portraits. During this period he also produced several large religious paintings which he frequently exhibited in the northeast.Until the founding of the National Academy, Dunlap had maintained close ties with the American Academy of Fine Art, exhibiting frequently in their galleries and serving on their board of directors. In 1826, however, he severed ties with the institution and became a founding member of the National Academy. During the following years he served on the Academy's council and from 1832 to 1838 he served as its vice-president. During his later years, however, Dunlap again turned to his literary talents and published his History of the American Theatre in 1832 and his History of the Rise and Progress of the Arts of Design in the United States in 1834. The latter, which was compiled from both his extensive travels and his correspondence, praises the young National Academy and its founders. For his literary and artistic talents, Dunlap quickly became known as the "American Vasari."
According to Thomas Seir Cummings, the Academy requested Dunlap to sit for his portrait in the summer of 1838. Though he was old and in ill health Dunlap complied and Ingham's was quickly recognized as one of the best likenesses painted. [ABG adds: NAD minutes, Annual Meeting, May 1838, request made for Dunlap to sit for portrait; May 8, 1839: Ingham submits his "first Academy picture"--? whether this was the portrait of Dunlap, presented as Ingham's NA diploma work.]
