The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of April 23, 2025

Baron FitzGibbon

1789
(American, 1755–1828)
America
oil on canvas
Framed: 272 x 181 x 11 cm (107 1/16 x 71 1/4 x 4 5/16 in.); Unframed: 245 x 154 cm (96 7/16 x 60 5/8 in.)
General Income Fund 1919.910
Location: 204 Colonial American

Did You Know?

This portrait was painted on a large piece of textured linen, likely a tablecloth.

Description

A fearless politician who engineered the act of uniting Ireland with England, FitzGibbon was the newly appointed Lord Chancellor of Ireland (whose duties included that of chief judge) when Stuart painted his portrait. The crownlike upper portion of FitzGibbon's mace, or ceremonial staff, is seen on the table at the right. Propped against the table is a satin and velvet purse embroidered with the royal coat of arms. Worn around the neck like an apron, the purse held the official texts of FitzGibbon's speeches. At the time he painted this work, Stuart was living in Dublin, having spent a dozen years in London. In fact, his Irish patrons regarded him as a British painter. Stuart returned to his native America in 1793, where he remained the rest of his life.
  • 1789-probably 1802
    Baron John FitzGibbon, 1st Earl of Clare [1748-1802], County Limerick, by descent to his sons
    Probably 1802-1864
    John Fitzgibbon, 2nd Earl of Clare [1792-1851] and Richard Hobart Fitzgibbon, 3rd Earl of Clare [1793-1864], sons of Baron FitzGibbon1
    1864-1887
    Alexander James Beresford-Hope [1820-1887], Bedgebury, Kent, by descent to his son, Alexander James Beresford-Hope1
    Alexander James Beresford-Hope, Bedgebury, Kent1
    -1919
    Isaac Lewis, Esq. [1849-1927], Bedgebury, Kent
    1919
    (Bedgebury Mansion sale, Knight Frank & Rutley, London, May 12-19, 1919, no. 23, sold to Knoedler & Co.)1
    1919
    (Knoedler & Co., New York, NY, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art)
    1919-
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, Ohio
    Provenance Footnotes
    1 1The Fitzgibbon sons likely received this painting upon the death of their father in 1802.
    2 1The painting passed to Beresford-Hope, a descendant of the first earl's sister, upon the death of the third earl, Richard Hobart Fitzgibbon, in 1864.
    3 1Beresford-Hope received the painting upon the death of his father in 1887.
  • Knight Frank & Rutley. Catalogue of the Contents of the Mansion of Bedgebury. London: Knight Frank & Rutley, 1919.
    L. P. "Gilbert Stuart's Portrait of Lord Fitzgibbon." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 7, no. 1 (1920): 3-5. Reproduced: Front Matter; Mentioned: pp. 3-5 25136337
    Park, Lawrence, John Hill Morgan, and Royal Cortissoz. Gilbert Stuart; An Illustrated Descriptive List of His Works. New York: W.E. Rudge, 1926.
    Kirsh, Andrea, and Rustin S. Levenson. Seeing Through Paintings: Physical Examination in Art Historical Studies. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2000. Mentioned and reproduced: P. 30-31
    Adams, Henry. What's American about American art?: a gallery tour in the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2008. Reproduced: p. 46 - 47
  • New York, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Gilbert Stuart (21 October 2004-16 January 2005); traveled to Washington, DC, for the National Portrait Gallery at the National Gallery of Art (27 March-31 July 2005) illus. cat. no. 19, p. 81; text pp. 75-83.
    Gilbert Stuart. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY (organizer) (October 18, 2004-January 16, 2005); National Gallery of Art, Landover, MD (March 27-July 31, 2005).
    Style, Truth and the Portrait. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (October 1-November 19, 1963).
    35th Anniversary Exhibition. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (June 20-September 30, 1951).
    The Twentieth Anniversary Exhibition: The Official Art Exhibit of the Great Lakes Exposition. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (June 26-October 4, 1936).
  • {{cite web|title=Baron FitzGibbon|url=false|author=Gilbert Stuart|year=1789|access-date=23 April 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1919.910