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THOMAS JEFFERSON IN 1821. AGE 78. PAINTED BY THOMAS SULLY. THE LAST LIFE PORTRAIT OF JEFFERSON.
From the original portrait painted by Thomas Sully, now owned by the American Philosophical Society, at Philadelphia. Canvas, 25 by 30 inches. Thomas Sully was born in Horncastle, Lincolnshire, England, June 8, 1783, and died in Philadelphia November 5, 1872. He was brought to this country when a child, and having adopted art as his profession, settled in Philadelphia, where for many years he was a much respected citizen and the leading portrait painter in the community. Persons who are not familiar with Sully's early work, and know him only by his artificial, romantic portraits of women, have no idea how masterful a painter he was. A scrutiny of his portraits of George Frederic. Cooke, as Richard III., painted in 1811, and of Senator James Ross, painted in 1814, both in the Academy of Fine Arts, Philadelphia, will well repay any one interested in the history and traditions of our home art. At the request of the professors of the United States Military Academy at West Point, Jefferson consented to sit to Sally for a portrait for that institution, and in March, 1821, the artist visited Monticello and painted the portrait here reproduced. From it he painted the whole-length picture now at West Point, for which he was paid $500. It is the last portrait of Jefferson painted from life, and is a good example of Sully's higher qualities as a painter. The canvas is endorsed by Sully. "From Jefferson 1821, completed 1830."
