# Daniel La Motte

- By: Thomas Sully (born Horncastle, England 1783-died Philadelphia, PA 1872)
- Date: 1812-1813
- Medium: oil on canvas mounted on wood
- Classification: Paintings
- Dimensions: 36 3/8 x 29 in. (92.3 x 73.8 cm.)
- Credit line: Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Ferdinand La Motte III
- Museum: [Smithsonian Institution](https://americanart.si.edu/collections/search/artwork/?id=23479)
- Rights: [CC0 (Smithsonian Open Access)](https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/)
- Picture: https://invisiblenetwork.ai/thumbs/web/eb940ac73f06c0c94161ccb752de80e9.jpg
- Who can see it: Tweens profiles and older (museums give no ratings; placed by Invisible Network from the museum's own words)

Wilmington, Delaware landowner and cotton merchant Daniel la Motte appears in the latest London fashion, his stylish clothes and relaxed demeanor reflecting the current style of portraiture popular in England and Europe. Artist Thomas Sully had just completed a sojourn to London and Paris, returning to Philadelphia prepared to paint sitters like La Motte as American aristocrats. His portrait of La Motte reflects American ambitions to be a great nation, aspiring to cultural parity with the Old World.