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John Quincy Adams

Thomas Sully American
1824
Not on view
In his “Hints to Young Painters” (published posthumously in 1873), Sully wrote, with regard to painting a portrait: “The first sitting may be short, as pencil sketches on paper, of different views of the person, will be sufficient to determine the [com]position of the portrait.” In one or possibly two sittings with John Quincy Adams during December 1824, the artist made this watercolor study from life, an oil study (location unknown), and a bust-length portrait (National Gallery of Art, Washington), before painting the final oil picture (Philipse Manor, Yonkers) In the watercolor, Sully worked in layered and transparent washes to record the light source, his sitter’s pose, and the room’s embellishments, while capturing something of the character of both the sitter and his office. The small sketch in the bottom margin of the sheet indicates that Sully contemplated at least one variation in the final pose. Adams had been one of four candidates in the November 1824 presidential election, and Sully arrived in Washington in the interval between the electoral college’s indecisive vote on December 1 and the House of Representatives’ vote in Adams’s favor on February 9, 1825.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: John Quincy Adams
  • Artist: Thomas Sully (American, Horncastle, Lincolnshire 1783–1872 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania)
  • Date: 1824
  • Culture: American
  • Medium: Watercolor, black chalk, and graphite on off-white laid paper
  • Dimensions: 10 3/8 x 6 1/2 in. (26.4 x 16.5 cm)
  • Credit Line: Fletcher Fund, 1938
  • Object Number: 38.146.1
  • Curatorial Department: The American Wing

More Artwork

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Hints to Young Painters, and the Process of Portrait-Painting as Practiced by the Late Thomas Sully.
Thomas Sully
J. M. Stoddard & Company
1873
Portrait of a Lady, Thomas Sully American, Watercolor on ivory, American
Portrait of a Lady
Thomas Sully
ca. 1843
Mrs. Thomas Sully (Sarah Annis), Thomas Sully American, Watercolor on ivory, American
Mrs. Thomas Sully (Sarah Annis)
Thomas Sully
ca. 1802
Standing Draped Female Figure; Portrait of a Cleric; Half-length Portrait of a Man; Figures with Wagons and Horses (Napoleon Scene?) (from Sketchbook), Thomas Sully American, Ink, wash, on paper, American
Standing Draped Female Figure; Portrait of a Cleric; Half-length Portrait of a Man; Figures with Wagons and Horses (Napoleon Scene?) (from Sketchbook)
Thomas Sully
1810–20
Composition with Five Figures in Natural Setting, Two Male, Three Female, with a Lyre (Ponnassus?) (from Sketchbook), Thomas Sully American, Ink, wash, on paper, American
Composition with Five Figures in Natural Setting, Two Male, Three Female, with a Lyre (Ponnassus?) (from Sketchbook)
Thomas Sully
1810–20

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