Skip to main content
Advanced Search
Portrait 1946-80
Portrait of James Monroe (1758-1831)
Portrait 1946-80

Portrait of James Monroe (1758-1831)

Date1816
Artist John Vanderlyn (1775-1852)
OriginAmerica, District of Columbia, Washington
MediumOil on canvas
DimensionsUnframed: 28" x 24 1/4" (71.1 cm. x 61.6 cm.) and Framed: 35 3/8" x 31 1/2" x 2 7/8"
Credit LineMuseum Purchase
Object number1946-80,A
DescriptionA half-length portrait of a blue-eyed, gray-haired man turned 3/4 toward the viewer's right. He wears a white neck cloth and tie, white shirt, white vest, and black coat. His hands hang down out of the composition. The base of a gray column is visible behind him to the viewer's left.

In 1945, Knoedler's fabricated a 4-inch gilded frame for this portrait in accord with architect William G. Perry's drawing of a "typical 'Gilbert Stuart' frame." Actually, Perry's drawing was used as the basis for Knoedler's 1945 fabrication of frames for three CWF-owned portraits: Monroe (1946-80), Jefferson (1945-22), and Madison (1945-23). See the file copy of Perry's letter to Kenneth Chorley, which attaches Perry's drawing and which discusses the ornamental details by which the three frames were to be varied. The Perry-designed frame on Monroe's portrait (1946-80,B) was removed 4/18/2012 and replaced with that described in the following paragraph:

Label TextJohn Vanderlyn's natural artistic abilities were nurtured by instruction from Archibald Robertson and Gilbert Stuart and by encouragement, referrals, and financial help from Aaron Burr. The latter particularly gratified the artist's aspirations by sending him to Paris in 1796, making him the first American-born painter to study there.

Vanderlyn journeyed abroad again in 1803, when he not only returned to the French capital but also visited England, Switzerland, and Italy. During these travels, he met and formed a lasting friendship with America's special envoy to France, James Monroe (1758-1831), who was in Paris working with Robert Livingston to finalize negotiations for the Louisiana Purchase. Soon afterwards, Monroe took on new duties as America's minister to Britain. In America during the War of 1812, he served partially overlapping stints as secretaries of state and war under James Madison and, during 1817-1825, was America's fifth president.

In America in 1816, President Madison and President-elect Monroe ordered portraits of one another from Vanderlyn. When the artist executed the dual commission, he also made several copies of his likeness of Monroe. Monroe himself originally possessed the version of his portrait now owned by The National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D. C., whereas Madison first owned the version shown here, which is considered to have been the one done from life. Colonial Williamsburg's picture was included in Dolley Madison's 1851 estate sale, where it was bought by Edward B. Coles, Sr., Madison's private secretary from 1809 until 1815. It then descended in the Coles family until 1946, when it was purchased by Colonial Williamsburg.

The portrait's restrained coloring and brushwork attest to French neoclassicism's enduring influence on Vanderlyn. The severe style likely also appealed to Monroe, who was known for his partiality to French taste. Vanderlyn virtually repeated the head of this likeness in executing a full-length of Monroe for City Hall in New York in 1821.

InscribedNo inscriptions were found on the front. Conservation treatment by Knoedler's in 1945 included "relining." (It is unclear whether this meant an initial lining, or a subsequent one, as implied by the prefix). No formal report of this work was rendered, and no mention of any inscriptions on the back was made by Knoedler's; the back of the original canvas remains obscured by the lining as of 2006 cataloguing.

A fragment of a label, hand-written in script in brown ink, was removed from the back of a stretcher in 1991 by conservator Cleo Mullins and re-affixed to the back of the picture; it is now viewable through a window in the backing board. It reads: "T[torn, missing]ident Monroe/is the [missing]/George [missing]ns/Edward [missing]obbins/James M. Robbins/Major Oliver W. Robbins".

A fragment of a second label, hand-written in script in black ink, was removed from the back of a stretcher in 1991 by conservator Cleo Mullins and re-affixed to the back of the picture; it is now viewable through a window in the backing board. It reads: "President Monroe/by/Vandelyn [sic]/purchased at Mr Madison's Sale/by Edward Coles in 1851/[torn, missing] by Richards, Artist/[torn] Feby 1869 [one word; unclear; proper name? Cleo Mullins interpreted this last word as 'Framed'].".
MarkingsA modern label on the back of the upper member of the FORMER frame for this painting, i.e., 1946-80,B, reads: "No. 40235/FRAME/Top". The first two lines are press-printed, the third hand-written.

An exhibition label (for "They Gave Us Freedom") is also on the back of the painting but has not been transcribed here.
ProvenanceCommissioned by President James Madison (1751-1836); to his wife, Mrs. James (Dolley) Madison (d. 1849); bought from her estate in 1851 by Edward Coles, Sr.; to his son, Judge Edward Coles, Jr. (1837-1906); to his daughter, Miss Mary R. Coles; to her four nephews, George, Edward, James, and Oliver Robbins; bought by The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation from Knoedler's, which firm acted as agent for the four Robbins brothers.