Sanford Gifford

Date1861

Label TextBest known for his grandiose, even clichéd, magnum opus, Washington Crossing the Delaware (1851, Metropolitan Museum of Art), Emanuel Leutze started his career as a portraitist. Indeed, even as he achieved fame for his large-scale canvases celebrating moments in American history, he continued to create intimate studies of human character, like this revealing likeness of the painter Sanford Gifford, whose work also hangs in this gallery. Leutze has captured his friend in a moment of quiet reflection: brow furrowed and hair mussed, Gifford gazes downward as if deep in thought. More than a representation of the sitter’s physical appearance, Leutze’s portrait of Gifford conjures the inner life of the artist.

Object number2020.30

ProvenanceEstate of Sanford Gifford; to the artist’s brother, James Gifford, by inheritance; to his son, James Edward Gifford; to Carol Abell Gifford (widow of above); to their children, James Sanford Gifford and Sharon Katherine Gifford; sold to Allan and Mary Kollar; Seattle, Washington, 2002; to Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, Washington, 2020

Photo CreditPhoto: Nathaniel Willson

Exhibition HistorySeattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, American Art: The Stories We Carry, Oct. 20, 2022 - ongoing.

Credit LineGift of Mary and Allan Kollar

Dimensions20 3/8 x 16 1/2 in. (51.8 x 41.9 cm)

MediumOil on canvas mounted on panel