Man Gesturing, Composition Study, Woman Petting Dog (from Sketchbook)
1810–20
Medium
Ink on paper
Dimensions
9 x 11 1/2 in. (22.9 x 29.2 cm)
Classification
Drawing
Culture
American
Department
The American Wing
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Rogers Fund, 1953
Accession Number
53.182.35 recto
Tags
Art Historical Context
Thomas Sully's *Man Gesturing, Study, Woman Petting Dog* (from Sketchbook), created between 1810 and 1820, offers a rare glimpse into the preparatory world of one of America's foremost portrait painters. This intimate ink drawing on paper captures fluid studies of a gesturing man, a compositional layout, and a woman tenderly petting a dog—everyday figures rendered with lively energy. Sully, a British-born artist who thrived in Philadelphia, was renowned for his elegant portraits of luminaries like Queen Victoria and Thomas Jefferson, blending neoclassical precision with romantic expressiveness...
About the Artist
Thomas Sully · 1783–1872
Thomas Sully, born on June 19, 1783, in Horncastle, Lincolnshire, England, to actor parents Matthew Sully and Sarah Chester, emigrated with his family to Charleston, South Carolina, in 1792. Raised in a theatrical environment, young Thomas debuted as a tumbler at age 11 before discovering his artistic talent. He studied miniature painting with his brother Lawrence Sully, brother-in-law Jean Belzon...