John Wesley Jarvis, 1780 - 14 Jan 1840 Search this
Sitter:
DeWitt Clinton, 2 Mar 1769 - 11 Feb 1828 Search this
Medium:
Oil on canvas
Dimensions:
Stretcher: 122.9 x 92.7 x 2.5cm (48 3/8 x 36 1/2 x 1")
Frame: 147 x 116.2 x 11.4cm (57 7/8 x 45 3/4 x 4 1/2")
Type:
Painting
Date:
c. 1816
Exhibition Label:
De Witt Clinton, masterful politician of New York-in and out of office as mayor of the city and governor of the state-was a man who saw America with the potential for unlimited progress. His great dream was for a canal linking the Great Lakes with the Hudson River. When expected federal financing did not materialize, Clinton set out to put public pressure for funding on the state legislature. A bond issue was approved just in time for Clinton, newly elected as governor, to preside over the groundbreaking ceremonies on July 4, 1817. Eight years later, Clinton, returned to office, directed the great celebration of the Erie Canal's completion. "Clinton's Ditch" was a popular and immediate financial success and contributed enormously to the growth and prosperity of New York and the Northwest Territory as well.
Provenance:
Jacob Jennings Brown; Mrs. William E. Everitt, his granddaughter; her niece, Mrs. W. E. Verplanck; Mrs. V. V. Bleecker [Mrs. Thomas Bache Bleecker], her daughter; purchased by(Russell Thorpe); purchased by (M. Knoedler & Co., New York); purchased 1936 by The A. W. Mellon Educational and Charitable Trust, Pittsburgh; gift to NGA; transferred 1965 to NPG.
National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution; transfer from the National Gallery of Art; gift of the A.W. Mellon Educational and Charitable Trust, 1942
