4x5 transparency scanned on Hasselblad Flextight X1 by Ed Pollard-2012.

Captain Skeffington Lutwidge

Artist Gilbert Stuart (American, 1755-1828)

CultureAmerican

Dateca. 1783-84

MediumOil on canvas

Dimensions30 x 25 in. (76.2 x 63.5 cm)
Overall, Frame: 36 1/2 x 31 1/16 in. (92.7 x 78.9 cm)

Credit LineMuseum membership purchase

Object number66.34.4

On View

Chrysler Museum of Art, Gallery 209

DescriptionThis is an oil on canvas half-length portrait of a man in a navy blue military outfit. It is painted in oval, outlined with a thick brown border. The subject is a middle-aged Captain in the British Navy; he faces the viewer with body turned to the left. His cheeks are ruddy and his blue eyes engage the viewer. The background is atmospheric with various colored clouds, such as gray, blue, black and peach. The frame is four inches of gilded, hand-carved wood.

Label TextGilbert Stuart American, 1755–1828 Captain Skeffington Lutwidge, ca. 1783–84 Oil on canvas A backdrop of wispy clouds gives timeless dignity to this portrait of English naval captain Skeffington Lutwidge (1736-1814). Painted when the Rhode Island-born artist Gilbert Stuart was training in London, it follows a standard formula for Georgian-era portraits: the facial expression is solemn, but the sitter’s eyes meet your gaze, giving a sense of presence to the otherwise formal image. Working later in the United States, Stuart painted George Washington and many wealthy and influential Americans, including Norfolk merchant Moses Myers (1753–1835). Museum membership purchase 66.34.4 ProvenanceBy family descent from Admiral Sir Robert Brice Kingsmill; collection of M. H. Kingsmill; Sotheby's, London, England; Leggatt Brothers Fine Art Dealers, London, England; Osborne Gallery, New York, N.Y., by 1966; Norfolk Museum of Arts and Sciences Museum Membership Purchase, May 20, 1966. Exhibition History"The Painter and the New World," Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, Montreal, Canada, June 9 - July 3, 1967. (Exh. cat. no. 125) "American Painting: Gilbert Stuart - George Bellows," Chrysler Museum, Norfolk, Va., November 18 - December 31, 1972. "Three Hundred Years of American Art in the Chrysler Museum," Chrysler Museum at Norfolk, Va., March 1 - July 4, 1976. (Exh. cat. p. 89) "Reopening of the Joan P. Brock Galleries," Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, Va., Opening in March of 2008. Published References_The Painter and the New World_, exh. cat., Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, Canada, 1967, no. 125. Chrysler Museum at Norfolk, "American Painting: Gilbert Stuart - George Bellows," _Bulletin_ Vol. 1, no. 10 (Dec. 1972): 1ff., ill. Dennis R. Anderson, _Three Hundred Years of American Art in the Chrysler Museum_, exh. cat., Norfolk, Va., 1975, 89. _The Chrysler Museum: Selections from the Permanent Collection, Norfolk, Virginia_, (Norfolk: Chrysler Museum, 1982), 79, ill. ISBN: 0-940744-37-6 Martha N. Hagood and Jefferson C. Harrison, _American Art at the Chrysler Museum: Selected Paintings, Sculpture, and Drawings_ (Norfolk, Va.: Chrysler Museum of Art, 2005), 24-25, no. 3. ISBN: 0-940744-71-6 Rob David, _In Search of Arctic Wonders: Cumbria and the Arctic in the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries_ (Carlisle, Cumbria, United Kingdom: Cumberland and Westmorland Antiquarian and Archaeological Society, 2013) 9.