Edward Kellogg
Medium
Oil on wood
Dimensions
33 3/8 x 25 3/8 in. (84.8 x 64.5 cm)
Classification
Painting
Culture
American
Department
The American Wing
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Gift of Mrs. Mary E. Kellogg Putnam, 1899
Accession Number
99.29.1
Rights
Public Domain
Tags
Art Historical Context
This oil-on-wood portrait of Edward Kellogg, painted in 1831–32 by the New York partnership of Samuel Lovett Waldo and William Jewett, captures the sober dignity typical of early American likenesses. The artists’ collaboration produced hundreds of such works for merchants, professionals, and civic leaders, recording the faces of a young republic eager to project stability and refinement. The choice of a wooden panel rather than canvas gave the painters a smooth, rigid surface ideal for crisp detail and subtle modeling, especially in the face and hands. Housed today in the Metropolitan Museum’s American Wing, the painting entered the collection as a gift from Kellogg’s granddaughter, linking the artwork directly to the family it commemorates. Together, these elements offer visitors a window into both the artistic conventions and the social aspirations of Jacksonian-era New York.
About the Artist
Samuel Lovett Waldo|William Jewett · 1783–1861
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