Selling Andrew Jackson

Rachel Stephens

Description

A thorough examination of the portrait painter who helped shape the image and reputation of an American president

Selling Andrew Jackson is the first book-length study of the American portrait painter Ralph E. W. Earl, who worked as Andrew Jackson's personal artist from 1817 until Earl's death in 1838. During this period Jackson held Earl in close council, even providing him residence at the Hermitage, Jackson's home in Tennessee, and at the White House during his presidency. In this well-researched and comprehensive volume, Rachel Stephens examines Earl's role in Jackson's inner circle and the influence of his portraits on Jackson's political career and historical legacy.

By investigating the role that visual culture played in early American history, Stephens reveals the fascinating connections between politics and portraiture in order to challenge existing frameworks for grasping the inner workings of early nineteenth-century politics. Stephens argues that understanding the role Earl played within Jackson's coterie is critical to understanding the trajectory of Jackson's career. Earl, she concludes, should be credited with playing the propagandistic role of image-shaper—long before such a position existed within American presidential politics. Earl's portraits became fine art icons that changed in character and context as Jackson matured from the hero of the Battle of New Orleans to the first common-man president to the leader of the Democratic party, and finally to the rustic sage of the Hermitage.

Jackson and Earl worked as a team to exploit an emerging political culture that sought pictures of famous people to complement the nation's exploding mass culture, grounded on printing, fast communications, and technological innovation. To further this cause, Earl operated a printmaking enterprise and used his portrait images to create engravings and lithographs to spread Jackson's influence into homes and businesses. Portraits became vehicles to portray political allegiances, middle-class cultural aspirations, and the conspicuous trappings of wealth and power.

Through a comprehensive analysis of primary sources including those detailing Jackson's politics, contemporary political cartoons and caricatures, portraits and prints, and the social and economic history of the period, Stephens illuminates the man they pictured in new ways, seeking to broaden the understanding of such a complicated figure in American history.

Sujets

• Arts visuels
• Histoire des Arts
• Histoire des Arts
• Artists
• POLITICAL SCIENCE
• Linden Place
• Presidential portrait (United States)
• Peter Pelham
• Elijah Boardman
• Lansdowne portrait
• Thomas Sully
• Rachel Jackson
• William H. Crawford
• Anthony van Dyck
• Willie Blount
• General officer
• Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres
• Ammi Phillips
• Charles Bird King
• Art
• William L. Marcy
• General
• Andrew Jackson Donelson
• William Harris Crawford
• Rembrandt Peale
• Charles Willson Peale
• Thomas Gainsborough
• James Monroe

Informations

• Publié par: University of South Carolina Press
• Date de parution: 15 juin 2018
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781611178678
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 2 Mo

Extrait

SELLING ANDREW JACKSON
SELLING ANDREW JACKSON

Ralph E. W. Earl and the Politics of Portraiture
RACHEL STEPHENS

The University of South Carolina Press
2018 University of South Carolina
Published by the University of South Carolina Press Columbia, South Carolina 29208
www.sc.edu/uscpress
27 26 25 24 23 22 21 20 19 18
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data can be found at http://catalog.loc.gov/
ISBN 978-1-61117-866-1 (cloth)
ISBN 978-1-61117-867-8 (ebook)
Front cover illustration: Andrew Jackson , 1836, oil on canvas, Columbia Museum of Art, Columbia, South Carolina, gift of an anonymous donor
For my parents, Michael and Kathleen Stephens
He is the greatest man I ever saw.
Ralph E. W. Earl to Ann Earl, September 18, 1821
Contents
List of Illustrations
Acknowledgments
Introduction
| 1 |
The Artist: Becoming the King s Painter
| 2 |
The City: Setting the Stage, Earl in Nashville
| 3 |
The General: Earl s Prepresidential Portraits of Jackson, 1817-1828
| 4 |
The Election: Printmaking and 1828
| 5 |
The President: Jackson in the White House, 1829-1837
Epilogue
Notes
Bibliography
Index
Illustrations
Fig.1 .
Ralph Earl, Elijah Boardman , 1789
Fig.2 .
Ralph Earl, Landscape View of Old Bennington , 1798
Fig.3 .
Portrait of Edward Gere , 1800
Fig.4 .
Portrait of an Unknown Gentleman , 1802
Fig.5 .
Reverend Elihu Ely , ca. 1803
Fig.6 .
Mrs. Grace Rose Ely , ca. 1803
Fig.7 .
Mrs. Williams , ca. 1804
Fig. 8 .
Reverend Ebenezer Porter , 1804
Fig.9 .
Mrs. Ebenezer Porter (Lucy Patty Pierce Merwin) , 1804
Fig. 10 .
Mr. Nathaniel Ruggles , 1804
Fig. 11 .
Mrs. Martha Ruggles , 1804
Fig. 12 .
Family Portrait , 1804 following p. 82
Fig. 13 .
Ralph Earl, Mrs. Noah Smith and her Children , 1798
Fig. 14 .
Ralph Earl, Major General Friedrich Wilhelm Augustus, Baron von Steuben , 1786
Fig. 15 .
Captain Joshua Combs , 1812
Fig. 16 .
Napoleon Bonaparte , 1814 or 1815
Fig. 17 .
Attributed to James E. Wagner, Tennessee State Capitol from Morgan Park , c. 1857-60
Fig. 18 .
George N. Barnard, Nashville from the Capitol , 1864
Fig. 19 .
Invitation to Lafayette s Ball , 1825
Fig. 20 .
Phila Ann Lawrence Donelson , ca. 1830
Fig. 21 .
Ball invitation, Nashville, Tennessee, 1828
Fig. 22 .
Judge John Overton , ca. 1817
Fig. 22a .
Henry Bryan Hall, The Hermitage
Fig. 23 .
Endicott Co., The Hermitage, Jackson s Tomb, and A.J. Donelson s Residence , 1856
Fig. 24 .
Cumberland River , ca. 1820-23
Fig. 25 .
Jean Jean Fran ois de Vall e, Andrew Jackson , 1815
Fig. 26 .
Nathan W. Wheeler, General Jackson , 1815
Fig. 27 .
Andrew Jackson , 1817 following p. 82
Fig. 28 .
Andrew Jackson , 1817
Fig. 29 .
General Andrew Jackson , 1818
Fig. 30 .
Sir Joshua Reynolds, General John Burgoyne , probably 1766
Fig. 31 .
Charles Willson Peale, George Washington at Princeton , 1779
Fig. 32 .
Charles Willson Peale, Andrew Jackson , 1819
Fig. 33 .
James Akin, Caucus Curs in full Yell, or a War Whoop to saddle on the People, a Pappoose President , 1824
Fig. 34 .
Charles Cutler Torrey, engraving after Earl, Andrew Jackson , 1826
Fig. 35 .
James Akin, A Philosophic Cock , 1804
Fig. 36 .
Some Account of the Bloody Deeds of General Jackson , 1828
Fig. 37 .
Unknown artist, The Pedlar and his Pack or the Desperate Effort, an Over Balance , 1828
Fig. 38 .
Henry R. Robinson, General Jackson Slaying the Many Headed Monster , ca. 1836
Fig. 39 .
James Akin, The Man! The Jack Ass! , not dated
Fig. 40 .
James B. Longacre, after Earl, Andrew Jackson , 1828
Fig. 41 .
Mrs. Rachel Jackson , 1817
Fig. 42 .
Unknown artist, possibly Washington Bogart Cooper, after Earl, Mrs. Rachel Jackson (1817), 1830
Fig. 43 .
Mrs. Rachel Jackson , 1825
Fig. 44 .
Mrs. Rachel Jackson , 1827
Fig. 45 .
Mrs. Rachel Jackson , ca. 1831
Fig. 46 .
Emily Tennessee Donelson , 1830
Fig. 47 .
Edward Williams Clay, The Rats Leaving a Falling House , 1831
Fig. 48 .
Andrew Jackson at the Hermitage ( Farmer Jackson ), 1830 following p. 82
Fig. 49 .
John Henry Bufford after Earl, Andrew Jackson at the Hermitage ( Farmer Jackson ), 1832
Fig. 50 .
David Claypoole Johnston, Exhibition of Cabinet Pictures , 1831
Fig. 51 .
The Tennessee Gentleman , 1830 following p. 82
Fig. 52 .
Unknown artist, King Andrew the First , 1832 or 1833
Fig. 53 .
Andrew Jackson, The Jockey Club Portrait, ca. 1830 following p. 82
Fig. 54 .
Andrew Jackson , ca. 1830
Fig. 55 .
Andrew Jackson , 1830
Fig. 56 .
Andrew Jackson , 1833 following p. 82
Fig. 57 .
Andrew Jackson , ca. 1834
Fig. 58 .
Andrew Jackson , ca. 1835 following p. 82
Fig. 59 .
Andrew Jackson astride Sam Patch , ca. 1833 following p. 82
Fig. 60 .
Anthony van Dyck, Charles I of England , ca. 1637
Fig. 61 .
Andrew Jackson , 1836 following p. 82
Fig. 62 .
Andrew Jackson ( The National Picture ), 1836-37 following p. 82
Fig. 63 .
Gilbert Stuart, George Washington ( Lansdowne Portrait ), 1796
Fig. 64 .
James Barton Longacre, after Thomas Sully, Andrew Jackson , 1819-20
Fig. 65 .
Asher B. Durand after John Vanderlyn, General Andrew Jackson, New Orleans, Jany. 8th. 1815 , 1828
Fig. 66 .
Robert W. Weir and John W. Casilear, The Presidents of the United States. From Original and Accurate Portraits, 1834
Acknowledgments
The research for this book has been funded by a number of organizations, and I could not have completed it without this support. This financial assistance allowed me to spend research time at a number of archives. The Graduate School and the School of Art and Art History at the University of Iowa provided major funding. In addition, I received assistance in the form of the Tennessee Historical Society Wills Fellowship, Nicholls State University s Research Council Grant, a visiting scholarship from the American Antiquarian Society, and the University of Alabama s Research Grant Council award. My employment at Nicholls State University and then at the University of Alabama gave me time in the summers to write, and my spouse s employment at Trans States Airlines afforded me financial stability and deeply discounted air travel. I am grateful for all of this assistance.
Two Nashvillians, Marsha Mullin, curator at the Hermitage, and Jim Hoobler, curator at the Tennessee State Museum, in Nashville, have been ardent supporters of this project from the beginning. Both allowed me to pick their brains, shared with me paintings and archival materials, and offered behind-the-scenes tours. They each also generously read and fact-checked the entire manuscript. This project is deeply indebted to their keen eyes, deep knowledge and expertise, and career-long devotion to Jackson and to Tennessee culture, respectively. This project began at the University of Iowa, and I am grateful to Joni Kinsey, who feverishly and tediously read and line-edited the project and offered her expertise and opinion on every thought and word through multiple drafts. The book owes a great deal to her skill, time, and effort. Her guidance helped me become a confident writer. Barbara Mooney at the University of Iowa was a support and ally of this project at every stage. Guidance came from her in a range of forms, including concept and execution. She has also helped me immensely in successfully navigating my academic career. Many friends and colleagues read, discussed, and offered feedback on various aspects of the project, especially including Julia Sienkewicz, Barbaranne Liakos, and Amanda Quackenbush Guidotti. George Thompson, publisher-in-residence at the University of Alabama, was so generous with his time and expert guidance. His help guided me through the publication process. Too many library, archive, and museum professionals have assisted me to name, but these especially include staff from the Library of Congress Manuscript Room, the Catalog of American Portraits, the American Antiquarian Society, the Tennessee State Library and Archives, the Frick Art Reference Library, and the Library of Virginia. My family, especially my siblings, and my parents, Mike and Kathy Stephens, particularly have never wavered in their support of my work. I became an art history graduate student, rather than a law student, because my mom encouraged me to follow my heart, and I am enormously grateful to my parents for their endless generosity, love, and support. Finally, my rock, Jerry Splichal, supports me and my work in every way imaginable and on a daily, even hourly basis, and for him, I am profoundly grateful.
INTRODUCTION
In a telling 1829 letter sent by Ralph E. W. Earl to his dear friend President Andrew Jackson, Earl pledged his loyalty, saying, I will assure you my dear friend my heart is with you, and the only pleasure I have in this life is identified with that of yours. In this correspondence, as in most of the correspondence between the two men, after discussing the issue at hand, Earl launched into political matters and pledged his devotion in closing, saying, No Administration for its time has ever given more general satisfaction than that of yours, and may God grant you with health to go through with this arduous task of reform, is the prayers of yours sincerely. 1 Written shortly after Jackson s move to Washington, these statements appeared in a letter in which Earl apologized for not yet having joined his close companion, a recent widower, at the White House. Jackson desperately wanted Earl to relocate his studio from Nashville, where he had been working for the previous thirteen years, to the capital city during his administration. The correspondence well expresses the sincere devotion Earl, like many Jackson men in the day, felt toward their Old Hero. Over the course of Jackson s political ascendency, he gained many supporters who championed his reform efforts in the U