Description

Gilbert Stuart’s idealized portrayal of Major-General Henry Dearborn presents an aging, yet robust military leader invigorated by power and the challenge of the War of 1812. A Revolutionary War hero who served as secretary of war during Thomas Jefferson’s two presidential terms (1801–09), Dearborn continued his service as senior major-general in the 1812 campaign. This work is one of several likenesses Stuart executed of American
military and political men, among them his well-known depictions of George Washington. Stuart painted directly on the panel or canvas over the course of several sittings, capturing the new country’s fervent nationalism in skillful, vigorous portraits.

Provenance

Henry Dearborn, Boston and Roxbury, MA, 1812; by descent to Henry Alexander Scammell Dearborn, Roxbury, MA, 1829; by descent to Henry George Raleigh Dearborn (died 1884), Roxbury, MA, 1851; by descent to Mrs. Henry George Raleigh Dearborn, Roxbury, MA 1884; sold to the Chicago Commercial Club, 1886; given by them to Calumet Club, Chicago, 1886; H.L. Pratt, Brooklyn, N.Y., 1912; M. Knoedler & Co., New York, 1913; Henry Reinhardt Galleries, Chicago, 1914; sold to the Art Institute of Chicago, 1914.