Major-General Henry Dearborn
Gilbert Stuart (American, 1755–1828)
1812
- Medium
- Oil on mahogany panel
- Classification
- Painting
- Dimensions
- 71.5 × 57.1 cm (28 3/16 × 22 1/2 in.)
- Culture
- Roxbury
- Museum
- Art Institute of Chicago, Arts of the Americas
- Credit line
- Friends of American Art Collection
- Rights
- Public domain (CC0), as the museum states it.
- Who can see it
- Tweens profiles and older: its subjects are known and suit older children. How works are placed
View at the Art Institute of Chicago
About this work
Gilbert Stuart’s idealized portrayal of Major-General Henry Dearborn presents an aging, yet robust military leader invigorated by power and the challenge of the War of 1812. A Revolutionary War hero who served as secretary of war during Thomas Jefferson’s two presidential terms (1801–09), Dearborn continued his service as senior major-general in the 1812 campaign. This work is one of several likenesses Stuart executed of American military and political men, among them his well-known depictions of George Washington. Stuart painted directly on the panel or canvas over the course of several sittings, capturing the new country’s fervent nationalism in skillful, vigorous portraits.
Description © Art Institute of Chicago, CC BY 4.0
