a % ART EXHIBITION LOZ3S = ig tS x THE CENTURY ASSOCIATION ART EXHIBITION xk NOVEMBER 1925 PRIVATELY PRINTED 4 ES i - - > - ap _ a. = - _ a « i ‘ ” a - A \ — < = — 2 m— x J % b= > ee, _—s - 7) ~ * : e = . = ay = “ a y i a . _* * % — = e- > — * . m= t a “ > - = = = a “ “ = _ ? ‘ “ be Tita ‘ Ty Sais ittee on Et 358 iijhirg Ses ae a pie fic A LOAN EXHIBITION OF THE Earliest Known Portraits of Americans Painted in This Country by Painters of the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries THE CENTURY ASSOCIATION NEW YORK NOVEMBER 7TH TO 29TH INCLUSIVE 1925 MIC. . EXHIBITION of PORTRAITS By EARLY AMERICAN ARTISTS ARTISTS REPRESENTED Benbridge,Henry. . ... . . . .. I1/44—-4812 Couturier, Henti 2.0.0) 2 0 a Delanoy, Abraham ... . . . 18th Century Duyckinck, Evert, Ist .. ..) > 9) Gg Duyckinck, Gerret) ..... . ). “02 O60-=Ia Duyckinck, Evert, 3rd... |.) ee Duyckinck,Gerardus ... . . . 1695-1742 Malbone, Edward G.°. 2 ee Mare, John 2... oe Read, William. . . ~ . . « 1607-1679 Smibert, John (two igeneey . ON Se GR ae Vanderlyn, Pieter ..). . |.) 2) eee Watson, John...) 8. ee Wollaston, John... . +). Ee x THE CENTURY ASSOCIATION NEW YORK NOVEMBER 7TH To 29TH, 1925 CATALOGUE 1 JAMES pELANCEY (1732-1800) STATESMAN AND CAPITALIST Painted in 1772 James deLancey was the eldest son of Lieut.-Gov. James deLancey and his wife Ann Heathcote deLancey. He was born in 1732 and died in 1800. He was educated at Eton and Cam- bridge and entered the Army on his return to New York at the beginning of the French and Indian War. He served at Fort Niagara and was aide to Gen. Abercrombie at Ticonderoga. At his father’s death in 1760 he retired from the Army to manage his estate and enter politics. He was then the richest man in America and the head of the Conservatives, called after him the deLancey Party. by Henry Benbridge (1744-1812) Henry Benbridge was born in Philadelphia,.May 20, 1744, and died in February, 1812. At an early age he went to Italy, where he studied under Battoni and under Mengs, and pro- gressed so well that in 1768 he was sent to Corsica, on the order of James Boswell, of Auchinleck, to paint a whole length por- trait of Gen. Pascal Paoli, which Benbridge, on reaching London the following year, exhibited at the Free Society of Artists. While in London, Benbridge painted a portrait of Doctor Franklin which, with another portrait, he exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1770. Later he returned to Philadelphia, and on January 18, 1771, he was elected a member of the American Philosophical Society. Benbridge settled in Charleston, S. C., where he painted many of the portraits of women found in the South attributed to Copley. 2 STEPHEN pELANCEY (1663-1741) He was the original owner of Fraunces Tavern, New York City. Trinity Church received its first tower clock from him, and New York City’s first fire engine was the joint gift of him- self and his partner. A prominent merchant, was active in public affairs, and became a social leader. Painted in 1734 by John Smibert (1688-1751) Smibert was a Scottish painter, born in Edinburgh, in 1688, who joined Bishop Berkeley in the dream of founding a universal college in the Bermudas, and arrived at Newport, Rhode Island, in 1729. The dream collapsing, he settled in Boston, taking there with him many copies he had made of European old masters, which, with his other works, had an influence on Allston, which Allston acknowledged. He probably also had an influence on Copley, who was fourteen when Smibert died. It has been said of Smibert, ‘““The best portraits we have of eminent magistrates and divines of New England and New York who lived between 1729 and 1751 are from his pencil.”’ Smibert died in Boston, in 1751. 3 ANNE VAN CORTLANDT (MRS, STEPHEN DELANCEY) (1676-1741) Anne Van Cortlandt was the daughter of Stephanus and Gertrude Schuyler Van Cortlandt. She was born in 1676 and died in 1741. In 1700 she married Stephen deLancey. This portrait of her resembles very strongly those of her sisters, Elizabeth, wife of the Rev. William Skinner of Perth Amboy, and Gertrude, wife of Col. Henry Beekman, which are repro- duced in the “Manor of Van Cortlandt.” The portrait is signed and dated Gt. Duyckinck, 1699. The latter date was the year previous to her marriage to Stephen deLancey and the year before the death of her father Stephanus Van Cortlandt whose portrait was paintee in 1693 by Evert Duyckinck, the father of Gerret. Painted in 1699 by Gerret Duyckinck (1660-1710) Gerret Duyckinck was the son of Evert Duyckinck and was baptized April 11, 1660. He married Maria Abeel of Albany, July 6, 1683, and resided in Hough (now Stone Street). For many years he was assistant Alderman and in 1689 became identified with Leisler’s government as a member of his council, and was prominent during those exciting times. Leisler ap- pointed him Captain of foot for the North Ward of New York on December 16, 1689, and in 1690 a member of the Court of