William Gedney Bunce

c. 1877-1878

Frank Duveneck

Associated Names
Frank Duveneck

Artist, American, 1848 - 1919

This painting shows a seated man from the waist up who looks directly at us. The man has light skin and a beard and mustache in a reddish-brown shade. His hair is similarly colored. He has a straight nose and round, dark eyes under curved eyebrows. He wears a dark suit with a white collar visible at the neck, covered by a charcoal gray overcoat. In his right hand, resting on his lap, he holds a cigar, and a gold ring is visible on his hand, with a chain across his torso. The background is dark brown and almost black in some areas.

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Artwork overview

  • Medium

    oil on canvas

  • Credit Line

    Andrew W. Mellon Collection

  • Dimensions

    overall: 77.5 x 66 cm (30 1/2 x 26 in.)
    framed: 100.3 x 90.2 cm (39 1/2 x 35 1/2 in.)

  • Accession Number

    1942.8.4

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

The sitter [1840-1916]; his neighbor, George Meyers, New York; Alfred M. Turner, New York, from c. 1894; sold 20 January 1919 to Thomas B. Clarke [1848-1931], New York;[1] his estate; sold as part of the Clarke collection 29 January 1936, through (M. Knoedler & Co., New York), to The A.W. Mellon Educational and Charitable Trust, Pittsburgh; gift 1942 to NGA.
[1] A letter of 20 January 1919 from Thomas B. Clarke (in NGA curatorial files) states: "This morning I bought of the artist Alfred M. Turner . . . a portrait of Gedney Bunce, by Frank Duveneck. . . . A. M. Turner said that he had owned the portrait about twenty five years, and got it from George Meyers, a designer, who had a small apartment in the `Benedict' . . . his apartment being near or next to that of Gedney Bunce who had a studio in the same building." A letter from Turner to Clarke, dated 6 January 1919 (also in NGA curatorial files), states, "I have had in my possession for over twenty five years a portrait of Gedney Bunce."

Associated Names

Exhibition History

1926

  • A Loan Exhibition of Paintings by Early American Portrait Painters, The Century Association, New York, 1926, no. 9.

1928

  • Portraits by Early American Artists of the Seventeenth, Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries, Collected by Thomas B. Clarke, Philadelphia Museum of Art, 1928-1931, unnumbered and unpaginated catalogue.

1938

  • Paintings by Frank Duveneck, 1848-1919, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, 1938, no. 34.

1943

  • American Paintings, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1943.

1953

  • American Paintings from the Collection of the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1953.

1955

  • American Paintings from the Collection of the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1955.

1956

  • American Paintings from the Collection of the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1956.

1970

  • Two Centuries of American Portraits, University of Kentucky Art Gallery, Lexington; Paducah Art Gallery, Kentucky; J. B. Speed Museum of Art, Louisville, 1970, no cat.

1988

  • An American Painter Abroad: Frank Duveneck's European Years, Cincinnati Art Museum, 1987-1988, unnumbered.

1989

  • Loan for display with permanent collection, The Taft Museum, Cincinnati, 1989-1990.

Bibliography

1928

  • Portraits by Early American Artists of the Seventeenth, Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries, Collected by Thomas B. Clarke. Exh. cat. Philadelphia Museum of Art, 1928, unnumbered.

  • Sherman, Frederic Fairchild. "Frank Duveneck." Art in America 16 (February 1928): 97, repro.

  • Barker, Virgil. "Portraiture in America before 1876." The Arts 13, no. 5 (May 1928): 286.

1930

  • Sherman 1930, 61, repro. opp. 60.

1936

  • Exhibition of the Work of Frank Duveneck. Exh. cat. Cincinnati Art Museum, Cincinnati, 1936: 74.

1970

  • Booth, Billy Ray. "A Survey of Portraiture and Figure Paintings by Frank Duveneck." Ph.D. diss., University of Georgia, 1970: xiii, 118-120, repro.

  • American Paintings and Sculpture: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1970: 52, repro.

1975

  • Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. New York, 1975: 555, no. 844, color repro.

1980

  • Wilmerding, John. American Masterpieces from the National Gallery of Art. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1980: 16, 132, repro.

  • American Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1980: 148, repro.

1981

  • Williams, William James. A Heritage of American Paintings from the National Gallery of Art. New York, 1981: 179, repro.

1987

  • Quick, Michael. An American Painter Abroad: Frank Duveneck's European Years. Exh. cat. Cincinnati Art Musuem, Cincinnati, 1987: 41, 103, fig. 25.

1988

  • Wilmerding, John. American Masterpieces from the National Gallery of Art. Rev. ed. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1988: 19.

1992

  • American Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1992: 164, repro.

1996

  • Kelly, Franklin, with Nicolai Cikovsky, Jr., Deborah Chotner, and John Davis. American Paintings of the Nineteenth Century, Part I. The Collections of the National Gallery of Art Systematic Catalogue. Washington, D.C., 1996: 154-156, color repro.

Wikidata ID

Q20188837

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