Artwork Page for "Old Pat," The Independent Beggar

Details / Information for "Old Pat," The Independent Beggar

"Old Pat," The Independent Beggar

c. 1819

Samuel Lovett Waldo

(American, 1783–1861)
Culture
America
Medium
oil on wood
Measurements
Framed: 68 x 57 x 7 cm (26 3/4 x 22 7/16 x 2 3/4 in.); Unframed: 47.8 x 36.9 cm (18 13/16 x 14 1/2 in.)
Credit Line
Gift of J. H. Wade 1916.998
Public Domain
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Location
Not on view
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Description

With this study of a disheveled person—perhaps a man named Patrick MacGregor—the popular society portraitist Samuel Waldo challenged assumptions that successful New Yorkers may have made about their city's prosperity. Waldo sold many copies of an engraving portraying "Old Pat" and made a finished portrait of him called The Beggar's Dessert that included a meager bone and bowl as attributes. In this painting, the sitter's gaunt, careworn features suggest considering him in sympathetic terms, yet his forceful gaze presents him as someone who cannot easily be made into an object of pity.
A vertically oriented oil painting in visible brushwork depicts a man with light skin tone, a weathered face, and unkempt, curly dark hair. Turning slightly to our right, his face is illuminated from the left, highlighting deep forehead furrows, dark eyes, and a large nose. He wears a thick, dark brown coat over a green garment, his mouth set in a straight line as he emerges from a dark, shadowy background.

"Old Pat," The Independent Beggar

c. 1819

Samuel Lovett Waldo

(American, 1783–1861)
America

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