John R. Murray 1797 - 1800

Gilbert Stuart painted this portrait of John R. Murray in the late eighteenth or early nineteenth century. Stuart was one of the most famous American portrait painters of his era, and you can see in this painting the conventions of portraiture that were required for depicting wealthy members of society in the United States and Britain. This portrait resembles others that Stuart made of figures like George Washington. Murray is shown wearing an expensive coat and lace jabot. This was an era of growing class stratification and portraits like this one reinforced social hierarchies. The subject of the painting and the artist were both part of a transatlantic world of commerce and trade. Archival research helps us to understand the relationship between wealth, social class, and the artistic institutions that emerged in this period. This kind of art has much to tell us about the social conditions in which it was made.