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The portrait shows Anna Dorothea Foster, the daughter of Speaker of the House John Foster, on the right and her cousin Charlotte Anna Dick on the left. We know from a receipt that John Foster commissioned portraits of himself and family members. The girls had previously been identified, based on an inscription on the back, as Miss Dick and Miss Forster, but art historian Carrie Rebora Barratt reattributed their identities to Miss Foster and Miss Dick based on several pieces of evidence, including the receipt and other portraits of the girls. Barratt also noted that the inscription was likely added later.
The portrait shows the girls dressed in similar ivory dresses with pink sashes. They bear a strong resemblance to each other, with long golden brown hair arranged in ringlets, blue eyes, and pink cheeks. Anna, on the right, holds a needlework frame called a tambour and a hook for pulling colored thread through the silk in the frame. As she was approaching her debut to society and marriageable age, this activity identifies her as a refined and accomplished young woman. Her cousin Charlotte holds a paper with the pattern for the embroidery.
Double portraits were unusual in Stuart's work. In this painting, he composed the figures successfully by slightly elevating Anna on the right and placing Charlotte in profile on the left. Reynolda's Stuart portrait painting of Sally Foster Otis (1809) was intended to be a double portrait, as he originally included Sally's son Alleyne. Ultimately, however, Stuart painted him out. Over the years, Alleyne's face has emerged through the paint in a ghostly pentimento.
Stuart's portrait of Anna Dorothea Foster and Charlotte Anna Dick demonstrates just how valuable his training in London had been. Compared to the portraits he created during his youth (see Francis Malbone and his Brother Sauders, circa 1774), there is an ease of the handling of paint, a surer modeling of the figure, an innovative approach to composition, and a delicate touch with color that confirms that the artist had certainly reached maturity in London.
Exhibition History1956
Pictures Collected by Yale Alumni
Yale University Art Gallery (5/8/1956-6/18/1956)
1967
Gilbert Stuart 1755-1828: Portraitist of the Young Republic
National Gallery of Art (7/1/1967-8/20/1967)
Rhode Island School of Design (9/9/1967-10/15/1967)
2004-2005
Gilbert Stuart
Metropolitan Museum of Art (10/18/2004-2/27/2005)
National Gallery of Art (4/8/2005-7/31/2005)
2009-2010
American Stories: Paintings of Everyday Life
Metropolitan Museum of Art (10/5/2009-1/24/2010)
Los Angeles County Museum of Art (2/28/2010-5/23/2010)
2015
Ireland: Crossroads of Art and Design 1690-1840
Art Institute of Chicago (3/17/2015-6/21/2015)
2020
Girlhood in American Art
Reynolda Hosue Museum of American Art (10/20/2020-3/21/2021)
Published ReferencesLaffan, William, Christopher P. Monkhouse, and Leslie Fitzpatrick, eds. Ireland: Crossroads of Art and Design, 1690-1840. (Chicago, IL: Art Institute of Chicago, 2015). pg 48, 95, 234
Swan, Susan Burrows. Plain and Fancy: American Women and their Needlework, 1650-1850 ( Austin, TX: Curious Works Press, 1995). pg. 87-88
Gilbet Stuart: Portraitist of the Young Republic 1755-1828 (Providence, RI: Rhode Island School of Design, 1967) pg. 56
DepartmentAmerican Art
Anna Dorothea Foster and Charlotte Anna Dick
Artist
Gilbert Stuart
(1755 - 1828)
Date1790-1791
MediumOil on canvas
DimensionsFrame: 36 1/2 × 37 in. (92.7 × 94 cm)
Credit LineGift of Charlotte Hanes in honor of Philip and Joan Hanes, who had the vision of Winston-Salem being the City of the Arts
Object number2019.2.1
DescriptionGilbert Stuart's double portrait of Anna Dorothea Foster and Charlotte Anna Dick is an early, important, and unusual work in his oeuvre. The painting was executed in Dublin, where Stuart lived from 1787 until 1793. His time in Dublin was preceded by twelve years in London, where he studied the works of Reynolds, Romney, and Gainsborough and assisted Benjamin West with his artistic commissions. Stuart's painting improved immeasurably during this time, developing a sophistication that was not present in the early works executed in America. The portraits created in London and then Dublin demonstrate his remarkable ability to capture his subjects' inner lives and to convey their personalities. He painted true likenesses, but also managed to create elegant and artful pictures which appealed greatly to his sitters. The portrait shows Anna Dorothea Foster, the daughter of Speaker of the House John Foster, on the right and her cousin Charlotte Anna Dick on the left. We know from a receipt that John Foster commissioned portraits of himself and family members. The girls had previously been identified, based on an inscription on the back, as Miss Dick and Miss Forster, but art historian Carrie Rebora Barratt reattributed their identities to Miss Foster and Miss Dick based on several pieces of evidence, including the receipt and other portraits of the girls. Barratt also noted that the inscription was likely added later.
The portrait shows the girls dressed in similar ivory dresses with pink sashes. They bear a strong resemblance to each other, with long golden brown hair arranged in ringlets, blue eyes, and pink cheeks. Anna, on the right, holds a needlework frame called a tambour and a hook for pulling colored thread through the silk in the frame. As she was approaching her debut to society and marriageable age, this activity identifies her as a refined and accomplished young woman. Her cousin Charlotte holds a paper with the pattern for the embroidery.
Double portraits were unusual in Stuart's work. In this painting, he composed the figures successfully by slightly elevating Anna on the right and placing Charlotte in profile on the left. Reynolda's Stuart portrait painting of Sally Foster Otis (1809) was intended to be a double portrait, as he originally included Sally's son Alleyne. Ultimately, however, Stuart painted him out. Over the years, Alleyne's face has emerged through the paint in a ghostly pentimento.
Stuart's portrait of Anna Dorothea Foster and Charlotte Anna Dick demonstrates just how valuable his training in London had been. Compared to the portraits he created during his youth (see Francis Malbone and his Brother Sauders, circa 1774), there is an ease of the handling of paint, a surer modeling of the figure, an innovative approach to composition, and a delicate touch with color that confirms that the artist had certainly reached maturity in London.
Exhibition History1956
Pictures Collected by Yale Alumni
Yale University Art Gallery (5/8/1956-6/18/1956)
1967
Gilbert Stuart 1755-1828: Portraitist of the Young Republic
National Gallery of Art (7/1/1967-8/20/1967)
Rhode Island School of Design (9/9/1967-10/15/1967)
2004-2005
Gilbert Stuart
Metropolitan Museum of Art (10/18/2004-2/27/2005)
National Gallery of Art (4/8/2005-7/31/2005)
2009-2010
American Stories: Paintings of Everyday Life
Metropolitan Museum of Art (10/5/2009-1/24/2010)
Los Angeles County Museum of Art (2/28/2010-5/23/2010)
2015
Ireland: Crossroads of Art and Design 1690-1840
Art Institute of Chicago (3/17/2015-6/21/2015)
2020
Girlhood in American Art
Reynolda Hosue Museum of American Art (10/20/2020-3/21/2021)
Published ReferencesLaffan, William, Christopher P. Monkhouse, and Leslie Fitzpatrick, eds. Ireland: Crossroads of Art and Design, 1690-1840. (Chicago, IL: Art Institute of Chicago, 2015). pg 48, 95, 234
Swan, Susan Burrows. Plain and Fancy: American Women and their Needlework, 1650-1850 ( Austin, TX: Curious Works Press, 1995). pg. 87-88
Gilbet Stuart: Portraitist of the Young Republic 1755-1828 (Providence, RI: Rhode Island School of Design, 1967) pg. 56
Status
On viewCollections
circa 1765
undated