Description
This print reproduces Gilbert Stuart’s oil on canvas of John Adams at the National Gallery of Art, accession 1954.7.1. Stuart began the portrait in Philadelphia about 1800, while Adams was still president. He did not finish it until 1815 in Boston, after John Quincy Adams pressed him. The Gallery dates the canvas c. 1800/1815. The shop file uses 1815. Family members said the finished head looks more like the aged Adams of 1815 than the sitting of 1800.
The companion portrait of Abigail Adams, NGA 1954.7.2, shares the same long delay. Stuart, showing the picture, asked whether Adams looked about to sneeze. This is not John Trumbull’s White House Collection oil of about 1792 to 1793. The Gallery canvas is a life portrait stretched across fifteen years, gift of Mrs. Robert Homans in 1954.
This listing is a contemporary print after the painting, not the original oil. Choose fine art paper, luster photo paper, or mounted canvas.
