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D2012-CMD. Portrait
Portrait of Robert Gilmor, Sr. (1748-1822)
D2012-CMD. Portrait

Portrait of Robert Gilmor, Sr. (1748-1822)

Date1788
Artist Charles Willson Peale (1741-1827)
OriginAmerica, Maryland, Baltimore
MediumOil on canvas
DimensionsUnframed: 36 x 29in. (91.4 x 73.7cm) and Framed: 40 x 33in.
Credit LineBequest of Mary Mercer Carter Stewart Vivian
Object number1967-365,A&B
DescriptionA three-quarter-length portrait of a seated man. He has brown eyes and wears powdered hair wtih a dark blue coat, buff waistcoat with brass buttons, and buff breeches. In his proper left hand, which rests on his near leg, he holds a red, white-dotted hankerchief. A piece of paper laying on the table beyond him reads: "Inve." A dark red drape nearly fills the upper right diagonal half of the picture. A window view reveals a harbor scene.
There is doubt regarding whether the 2 3/8-inch gilded frame is original. In the object file, see extensive emails from Lance Humphries and Chris Swan during April-May 2012. The frame is cove molded with stick-and-ribbon ornament at the sight edge and stylized acanthus leaf decoration along the outer quarter-round edge. The mitre joints are secured via corner splines, and two brass hanging rings are affixed to the back of the top edge, each with two screws.
Label TextRobert Gilmor Sr., a merchant and the son of a prosperous merchant, was born in Paisley, Scotland. He moved to Maryland in 1767, formed a successful merchant partnership with two gentlemen in Philadelphia, and specialized in foreign commerce. The Gilmors’ son Robert Jr. became a famous art collector in Baltimore. According to Charles C. Sellers, Robert Gilmore Sr., left the portraits to one of the two daughters shown here, although which one is unknown. He paid Peale thirty guineas for the two paintings.
The Gilmor likenesses are fine examples of Peale’s work, showing the intelligence and personalities of two Baltimoreans who were interested in the arts. In their simplicity and crisp, firm modeling, they epitomize Peale’s fully developed brand of the neoclassical style.

InscribedThe portrait is signed and dated along the lower right side, "C: WPeale/pinx:t 1788". [The "W" and "P" of "Peale" are conjoined. The "t" in "pinxt" is ---- possibly ---- an "r" intead of a "t"; the letter is superscript above the colon.] The piece of paper on which the subject rests his proper right forearm is inscribed "Inve."
N. B. Sellers ("Bibliography") cites the subject's will as bequeathing to his daughter "the Portraits of her mother and myself Painted by Peale in 1786." However, the date on the paintings clearly seems "1788," and Peale's receipt for thirty guineas payment-in-full for the two pictures survives; it is dated January 10, 1788.
ProvenanceFrom the subject to his daughter, Mrs. John Sherlock (Elizabeth Gilmor)(1779-after 1848); to her daughter, Mrs. Thomas Swann (Elizabeth Gilmor Sherlock)(1813-1876); to her daughter, Mrs. Charles Carter (Mary Mercer Swann)(1845-1931); to her daughter, Mrs. William Stewart (Anne Page Carter)(1876-1945); to her daughter, Mrs. Leslie Vivian (Mary Mercer Carter Stewart)(1896-1967), who was CWF's source.
Exhibition(s)