TitleUlysses S. Grant
Artist
Ferdinand Thomas Lee Boyle
(American, 1820 - 1906)
Date1867
MediumOil on canvas
DimensionsUnframed: 14 1/8 × 12 in.
Framed: 25 1/8 × 23 1/8 × 3 1/2 in.
SignedSigned at lower right: "Boyle / 1867".
Credit LineNational Academy of Design, New York, NY, Gift of Mrs. Emilie L.B. Loretz and Mrs. Evhelyn L.B. Abel, the artist's daughters, 1915
Object number147-P
Label TextIn her letter to the Academy of April 20, 1915, conveying this portrait of the famous Union general and eighteenth president of the United States , Mrs. Evhelyn Abel related that her father, "then Col. of the 4th Mis[souri] Vol[unteers] was guest at a dinner in St. Louis, at the close of the war, at which Gen. Grant was the Guest of Honor, and was fortunate enough to be seated directly opposite the famous man. My father studied Gen. Grant throughout the evening with the practised eye of an artist, determined to reproduce the mental picture so secured. This he did, at the first opportunity with satisfaction to himself and to all, well acquainted with Gen. Grant, to whom the painting was shown."This account is, of course, at odds with the date on the portrait. It is possible that a first version was produced and remains unlocated, or it was a sketch that brought such general approbation. It should be noted that this is the version of Grant which remained in Boyle's and his heirs's possession, suggesting it was his primary image of Grant from which he did make replicas, one of which, dated 1892, is in the collection of the Long Island Historical Society, Brooklyn.
Collections
- Past as Prologue Part I
