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Gilbert Stuart (American, 1755–1828)
Francis Malbone and His Brother Saunders, ca. 1774
Oil on canvas; 36 x 44 in. (91.4 x 111.7 cm)
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Gift of Francis Malbone Blodget Jr. and Gift of a Friend of the Department of American Decorative Arts and Sculpture and Emily L. Ainsley Fund
1991.436
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Stuart's portrayal of Francis Malbone Jr. (1759–1809) and his brother Saunders (1764–1836), sons of a prominent Newport distiller and trader, is a veritable collage of passages from portraits by John Singleton Copley. Stuart appropriated Copley's vocabulary of props and gestures—note the glossy hardwood tabletop and the eerie shadowing around their fingers—and mimicked his tendency to balance plasticity of form with severe outline.
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