TitleSelf-Portrait
Attributed Artist
John Gadsby Chapman
(American, 1808 - 1889)
Daten.d.
MediumOil on canvas
DimensionsUnframed: 23 7/8 × 19 7/8 in.
Credit LineNational Academy of Design, New York, NY
Object number217-P
Label TextThere are no documents indicating when and how this painting entered the collection. Chapman was initially elected an honorary member of the Academy-and this well before 1839; on both counts he was exempted from the standing requirement to present a portrait to the Academy. However, the fact that many members elected before the Associate portrait regulation was enacted nonetheless chose during the 1840s to honor it by contributing their likenesses is borne out by the published inventories of 1843 and 1852. Yet Chapman's portrait is not recorded in the collection until the published inventory of 1911, at which time there was no equivocation about the identity of the sitter; however, no artist of the work was assigned. Stylistically, it would appear to be by Chapman's hand, and the positioning of the head and focus of the gaze are characteristic of a self-portrait. From Chapman's apparent age in the painting, an estimated date of the work would be the later 1830s.
