Artwork DetailsTitle: Isaac Roosevelt (1726-1794) Artist: Gilbert Stuart (American, 1755-1828) Date: ca. 1793 Medium: Oil on canvas Dimensions: 36 x 28 in. (91.4 x 71.1 cm) Catalog Number: HOFR 672 HistoryIsaac Roosevelt was FDR's great-great-great grandfather. A known patriot, Roosevelt was elected to the New York Provincial Congress in 1775 and was one of the Committee of One Hundred that took control of the state government in May of that year. Though he was initially a moderate hoping to prevent conflict, he withdrew from New York when the British occupied the city, and spent the period of occupation in Dutchess County, serving with the Sixth Regiment of the Dutchess County Militia. Following the American Revolution, Roosevelt served as one of ten representatives from New York City that deliberated on the adoption of the United States Constitution. He was a member of the New York State Senate from 1777 to 1786, and from 1788 to 1792. Roosevelt’s fortune from sugar refining, and his political accomplishments, became a foundation of the family's wealth, prominence and influence. Isaac is depicted here by one of America's most well-known portrait painters, Gilbert Stuart. Stuart was born on December 3, 1755, in Narragansett, Rhode Island. In 1770, he received instruction from Cosmo Alexander, a Scottish gentleman then residing in Newport. Even though portraiture style was international, its center was considered to be Europe. Therefor, in 1775, Stuart set sail from Boston, by the last ship to sail before the Battle of Bunker Hill, for England, where he painted and studied in the studio of Benjamin West. In 1788, he opened his studio, where he painted portraits of leading artists, Gainsborough and West, a statement of the respect he had already attained. He was unable, however, to manage his finances and in 1792 sailed to New York. During the next two years he painted the likes of Aaron Burr and Chief Justice John Jay before moving to Philadelphia, where he executed the works that made him famous—some 124 portraits of George Washington. Isaac Roosevelt's portrait dates from Stuart's 1793-1794 New York Period, coming no more than two years before the Washington portraits and not more than a year before Isaac's death. |
Last updated: June 7, 2023