Gulian Verplanck

John Wesley Jarvis

ca. 1811 · Oil on panel · The American Wing

A devoted and influential member of many of the leading learned organizations of his day, Gulian Verplanck (1786-1870) was a member of one of New York's most prominent families, descended from the earliest settlers of New Amsterdam. Jarvis's choice of a horizontal format for his portrait of Verplanck was highly unusual and inspired: it captures the liberal spirit of this young man of wealth, leisure, and intelligence, who allowed the painter to experiment with conventional portrait composition in order to provide greater context for the likeness.

Artist

John Wesley Jarvis

Date

ca. 1811

Medium

Oil on panel

Culture

American

Department

The American Wing

Credit line

Gift of Nora F. Cammann and Albert Francke, 2000