Josef de Jaudenes y Nebot

Gilbert Stuart

1794 · Oil on canvas · The American Wing

Born in Valencia, Spain, Josef de Jáudenes (1764–1818) arrived in New York City in 1785, serving first as an assistant to the Spanish minister and later as the Spanish chargé d’affaires. Following his marriage to New York-born Matilda Stoughton (07.76) in 1794, Jáudenes commissioned Stuart to paint a pair of portraits commemorating their union. Stuart, who had returned from Ireland the previous year, drew on his knowledge of European Grand Manner portraiture in his elaborate depictions of the two sitters. Jáudenes, formally posed and richly attired, exemplifies the power and prosperity of the Spanish Empire, then at the height of its territorial expanse in the Americas.

Artist

Gilbert Stuart

Date

1794

Medium

Oil on canvas

Culture

American

Department

The American Wing

Credit line

Rogers Fund, 1907