Portrait of a Man (Possibly Peter Vogelsang Sr.)

probably 1829

American 19th Century

Associated Names
American 19th Century

Painter

This painting depicts a man seated in a chair and facing forward, with his head slightly turned to the left. He has light brown skin, short black hair, prominent sideburns, and brown eyes, with his face is in a neutral expression. His left arm rests over the back of the gilded wooden chair he sits in, and his right hand is tucked into his suit jacket. He is dressed in a black coat with large gold buttons running down the front and on the cuffs. Under the coat is a stiff white collar and a black kerchief or tie, as well as a square orange gem set in gold. The background is mostly a gray-green wall, but on the left side there is a thin vertical window showing a view of a green river with a steamboat on it and rocky red cliffs covered in green trees under a cloudy blue sky.

Media Options

This object’s media is free and in the public domain. Read our full Open Access policy for images.

The identity of this elegantly dressed man has long been a mystery — but the painting provides many clues. We can read the name of the steamship (New Philadelphia) and identify the landscape as the Hudson River Palisades in New Jersey or New York. Research based on these details now suggests that the sitter may be Peter Vogelsang Sr. (c. 1793 – 1844).

Newspaper references link Vogelsang to steamship companies based in New York during the 1820s. He was also part of an elite circle of African American men throughout the Northeast who engaged in debates about abolishing slavery. Someone in his position may have been able to commission a portrait and sit for it in a refined suit like this one.
 

Information on this painting can be found in the Gallery publication American Naive Paintings, pages 572-574, which is available as a free PDF.

On View

West Building Main Floor, Gallery 63

Artwork overview

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

Recorded as from Baltimore. (G.A. Berlinsky, Baltimore); sold 1948 to Edgar William and Bernice Chrysler Garbisch; gift 1953 to NGA.

Associated Names

Bibliography

1970

  • American Paintings and Sculpture: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1970: 148, repro., as Portrait of a Man.

1980

  • American Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1980: 292, repro., as Portrait of a Man.

1984

  • Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. Rev. ed. New York, 1984: 538, no. 810, color repro., as Portrait of a Man.

1992

  • Chotner, Deborah, with contributions by Julie Aronson, Sarah D. Cash, and Laurie Weitzenkorn. American Naive Paintings. The Collections of the National Gallery of Art Systematic Catalogue. Washington, D.C., 1992: 572-574, color repro. 573.

  • American Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1992: 417, repro.

Inscriptions

on steamboat: NEW / PHILADELPHIA; incised into paint on reverse (no longer visible, photograph in object file [1953.5.22] in NGA curatorial records): 1829

Wikidata ID

Q20185663

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