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Albert Gallatin

ca. 1796
Not on view
The popularity of profile portraits, which ultimately derived from classical medallions honoring famous men of the republics of Greece and Rome, burgeoned during America’s Federal period. The English painter and pastelist James Sharples established a career in America in 1794 by asking local and national politicians to sit for profiles and then enticing them into commissioning one or more copies of the completed portraits. Perhaps with some exceptions, Sharples employed a physiognotrace to record an exact profile and then retained the original portrait for his personal collection, a library of images that he could copy for sale over and over again. Sharples’s profile of the diplomat Albert Gallatin is perhaps the earliest likeness of a man who would be portrayed many times during the course of his long and prestigious career; when he sat for Sharples in about 1796, Gallatin was a member of the U.S. House of Representatives, where he remained for three terms.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Albert Gallatin
  • Artist: James Sharples (ca. 1751–1811)
  • Date: ca. 1796
  • Culture: American
  • Medium: Pastel on light gray wove paper
  • Dimensions: 9 3/8 x 7 3/8 in. (23.8 x 18.7 cm)
  • Credit Line: Gift of Miss Josephine L. Stevens, 1908
  • Object Number: 08.144
  • Curatorial Department: The American Wing

More Artwork

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Josiah Ingersoll, Master-Warden of the Port of New York, James Sharples British, Pastel on light gray wove paper, American
Josiah Ingersoll, Master-Warden of the Port of New York
James Sharples
Ellen Wallace Sharples
1751–1849
Alexander Hamilton, James Sharples British, Pastel on toned (now oxidized) laid paper, American
Alexander Hamilton
James Sharples
Ellen Wallace Sharples
ca. 1796
Noah Webster, James Sharples British, Pastel on light grey wove paper, lined with canvas, American
Noah Webster
James Sharples
Ellen Wallace Sharples
1751–1849
Dorothea Hart, James Sharples British, Pastel on tone (now oxidized) laid paper, American
Dorothea Hart
James Sharples
Ellen Wallace Sharples
1809
Mederic-Louis-Elie Moreau de Saint-Mery, James Sharples British, Pastel and black chalk (or black pastel) on toned (now oxidized) wove paper, American
Mederic-Louis-Elie Moreau de Saint-Mery
James Sharples
1798

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