Amy Taylor Dickson (Mrs. John Dickson)
John Neagle·c. 1835
Historical Context
John Neagle's portrait of Amy Taylor Dickson, painted around 1835, represents the Philadelphia portraitist at the height of his career. Neagle was the leading portrait painter in Philadelphia after the death of his father-in-law Thomas Sully, and his work documents the prosperous merchant and professional classes of antebellum America. His vigorous, direct style combined English portrait traditions with distinctly American forthrightness.
Technical Analysis
Neagle's oil-on-canvas technique shows his characteristic confident handling with warm flesh tones and solid modeling. The composition follows the standard half-length portrait format, with particular attention to the sitter's face and the rendering of costume details.
Provenance
The sitter's son, Levi Dickson [1805-1872], Philadelphia. Susan Allen Dickson, Philadelphia.[1] the artist's son, Garrett Cross Neagle, Philadelphia; Gilbert Sunderland Parker, Philadelphia; Mrs. Anna P. Bly; (William Macbeth, New York); Franklin Bulkeley Smith [1864-1918], Worcester, Massachusetts; (his estate sale, American Art Association, 22-23 April 1920, no. 149); purchased by C. Deardon, probably for Thomas B. Clarke [1848-1931], New York; his estate; sold as part of the Clarke collection 29 January 1936, through (M. Knoedler & Co., New York), to The A.W. Mellon Educational and Charitable Trust, Pittsburgh; gift 1947 to NGA. [1] The provenance published in the NGA systematic catalogue reads: "The sitter's son, Levi Dickson, Jr. [d. 1883], Philadelphia; his sister, Susan Allen Dickson, Philadelphia." Too late for publication, it was determined that this information was not quite accurate. There were several Levi Dicksons in the family, and the sitter's son was not the Levi who died in 1883. Susan Allen Dickson was not the sitter's daughter; however she lent the painting to an exhibition in 1887/1888, and was a family member, although her relationship to the sitter and the sitter's son has not yet been clarified. This version of the provenance provides only that information which is confirmed. (See notes on the family genealogy in NGA curatorial files.)
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