Portrait of The Marquis de Lafayette (Marie-Joseph-Paul-Yves-Roch-Gilbert du Motier de Lafayette)(1757-1834)

DateProbably 1824-1850

After work by Ary Scheffer (1795-1858)

MediumOil on canvas

DimensionsUnframed: 35 1/8in. (89.2cm) and Framed: 54 x 40 5/8 x 3 1/2in.

Credit LineMuseum Purchase

Object number1990-157,A&C

DescriptionA full-length portrait of a man standing in front of a boulder in a romanticized landscape, turned one-quarter towards the viewer's left, his proper right hand grasping a cane and a black top hat, his proper left gloved hand on his hip. He wears a white shirt, collar, and stock and a black suit under a brown overcoat, along with plain black shoes. His hair and eyes are brown.
The 3-inch molded and gilded frame has a splayed liner and acanthus leaf-and-tongue decoration and is a 1992 reproduction fabricated by Gold Leaf Studio, Washington, DC.

Label TextDemand for copies of French artist Ary Scheffer's full-length portrait of Lafayette must have escalated enormously when the subject toured America in 1824, the year in which Scheffer presented his monumental likeness of the man to the U. S. House of Representatives. Several copies of Scheffer's portrait have been noted in American collections.
ProvenanceOwnership prior to CWF's source (the estate of Estelle Philibert) is undocumented.