Sarah GoodridgeAmerican, 1788–1853Gilbert Stuart
May one see it?
Unknown: the museum keeps its counsel
Smithsonian American Art Museum
Washington, D.C., United States
The owner is known. Whether it is on view today, the museum does not say, and we were not trained to guess.
- In this state since
- Sep 25, 2026
- Source
- The museum's own collection data
About the painting
Sarah Goodridge painted this miniature at the request of Gilbert Stuart (1755-1828), who believed no one else could capture the essence of his personality. He declared it the "only true likeness" of him, and valued this work so much that he presented it to his mother, adorned with a bracelet woven from his own, and his wife's, hair. According to family letters, Stuart presented this miniature to his mother on July 21, 1827. Of the three miniatures Goodridge painted of Stuart, this was the sitter's favorite. The other two are in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Conservation of this miniature was made possible through a generous grant provided by the Smithsonian Women's Committee.
Smithsonian American Art Museum
Particulars
- Accession number
- 1999.27.16
What it shows
Sources
- Smithsonian American Art Museum: the museum's own open data · fetched 3 days ago
- Image: Smithsonian American Art Museum — CC0
