# John Gellatly

- By: Irving R. Wiles (born Utica, NY 1861-died Peconic, NY 1948)
- Date: 1930-1932
- Medium: oil on canvas
- Classification: Paintings
- Dimensions: 79 x 38 3/8 in. (200.8 x 97.6 cm)
- Credit line: Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of the artist
- Museum: [Smithsonian Institution](https://americanart.si.edu/collections/search/artwork/?id=27694)
- Rights: [CC0 (Smithsonian Open Access)](https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/)
- Picture: https://invisiblenetwork.ai/thumbs/web/eb811262061c5035a250ab87541ed557.jpg
- Who can see it: Tweens profiles and older (museums give no ratings; placed by Invisible Network from the museum's own words)

Art collecting is a hobby for some, but for John Gellatly it was a passion. His buying began in collaboration with his first wife, Edith Rogers (1858--1913), whose family manufactured railroad locomotives. The couple supported many contemporary American artists, including Abbott Handerson Thayer, Thomas Wilmer Dewing, John Henry Twachtman, and Albert Pinkham Ryder--all painters influenced by French impressionism. The Gellatlys also collected decorative arts, especially glass. After Edith's death, John's collecting pace increased, perhaps exceeding his means. By the time he donated his art collection to what later became the Smithsonian American Art Museum, few funds remained in the estate to settle his debts.