One of my favorite parts about working at a museum is getting to know the stories behind the works of art. A recent special project, 365 Days of Art, has better acquainted and re-acquanted me with some interesting tales.
One of my favorites is about a painting from the American collection by Gilbert Stuart, an artist who gained fame for painting portraits of George Washington. This painting is of Dr. William Aspinwall, a renowned doctor who had served as deputy director of the hospital in Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts during the Revolutionary War.
The official story goes that the painting was almost destroyed in July 1834, when a proslavery mob wrecked the home of Dr. Aspinwall's abolitionist daughter and son-in-law in New York City. The rioters burned most of the furniture in the street, but they spared the painting because they mistook it for Stuart's famous portrait of George Washington (The Collections of The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, American Paintings to 1945). The real portrait of Washington is now at the National Gallery in Washington D.C. Here is a fun look at it on their website.
I would like to thank those conscientious rioters for sparing Dr. Aspinwall so that his portrait may grace our new American galleries set to open April 17, 2009.