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Artist
Emanuel Gottlieb Leutze, 24 May 1816 - 18 Jul 1868
Sitter
Nathaniel Hawthorne, 4 Jul 1804 - 19 May 1864
Date
1862
Type
Painting
Medium
Oil on canvas
Dimensions
Stretcher: 75.9 x 64.1 x 2.5cm (29 7/8 x 25 1/4 x 1")
Frame: 101.6 x 91.8 x 10.2cm (40 x 36 1/8 x 4")
Topic
Personal Attribute\Facial Hair\Mustache
Nathaniel Hawthorne: Male
Nathaniel Hawthorne: Literature\Writer\Novelist
Nathaniel Hawthorne: Politics and Government\Diplomat\Consul\US Consul
Portrait
Credit Line
National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution; transfer from the National Gallery of Art; gift of the A.W. Mellon Educational and Charitable Trust, 1942
Restrictions & Rights
CC0
Object number
NPG.65.55
Exhibition Label
Born Salem, Massachusetts
While growing up, Nathanial Hawthorne was steeped in the Puritan traditions of Salem, Massachusetts, which later provided many of the themes in his fiction. In celebrated works such as The Scarlet Letter (1850) and The House of the Seven Gables (1851), Hawthorne explored the moral and cultural history of seventeenth-century New England, especially the human tendencies to make mistakes, allowing even good people to stray into reprehensible behavior.
Hawthorne’s portraitist, Emanuel Leutze, is best known for his painting Washington Crossing the Delaware (1851). He painted Hawthorne in 1862 while in Washington, D.C., to complete his mural for the U.S. Capitol, Westward the Course of Empire Takes its Way. Hawthorne described his visits to Leutze’s studio during the Civil War, writing of the mural: It “was most cheering to feel its good augury at this dismal time, when our country might seem to have arrived at such a deadly stand-still.”
Nacido en Salem, Massachusetts
Nathanial Hawthorne creció inmerso en las tradiciones puritanas de Salem, Massachusetts, que luego inspiraron muchos temas de sus obras de ficción. En novelas célebres como La letra escarlata (1850) y La casa de los siete tejados (1851), Hawthorne exploró la historia moral y cultural de la Nueva Inglaterra del siglo XVII, sobre todo la tendencia humana a errar, que hace actuar de manera reprensible incluso a personas buenas.
El retratista de Hawthorne, Emanuel Leutze, es más conocido por su pintura Washington cruzando el Delaware (1851). Pintó a Hawthorne en 1862 cuando visitó Washington D.C. para terminar su mural en el Capitolio, Hacia el oeste toma rumbo el imperio. Hawthorne describió sus visitas al estudio de Leutze durante la Guerra Civil, y sobre el mural comentó que era “muy alentador sentir su buen augurio en estos tiempos sombríos, cuando nuestro país parecer haber llegado a una crisis mortal”.
Provenance
The artist until death; sold at auction March 4-5, 1869 by (Leavitt, Strebeigh & Co.,New York, no. 15); bought by John F. Kensett; his sister, Mrs. Elizabeth D. Vail; sold at auction 29 April 1887; Mrs. W. H. Osborn, 1894; her son, Mr. H. F. Osborn, 1915; A. Perry Osborn sold to Thomas B. Clarke in 1923; purchased by The A.W. Mellon Educational and Charitable Trust, Pittsburgh; gift 1942 to NGA; transferred 1965 to NPG.
