Nine Figure Sketches, Including Three Galloping Equestrains (from Sketchbook)
1810–20
Medium
Ink, wash, on paper
Dimensions
9 x 11 1/2 in. (22.9 x 29.2 cm)
Classification
Drawing
Culture
American
Department
The American Wing
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Rogers Fund, 1954
Accession Number
53.182.11 verso
Tags
Art Historical Context
Thomas Sully's *Nine Figure Sketches, Three Galloping Equest (from Sketchbook)*, between 1810 and 1820, offers a glimpse into the preparatory world of one of America's leading portrait painters. This intimate sheet from Sully's sketchbook features dynamic studies of human figures and lively horses in motion, capturing the artist's keen observation of anatomy and energy. Sully, a Philadelphia-based artist of English birth, was renowned for his romantic, theatrical portraits of notables like Queen Victoria and Thomas Jefferson, blending influences from British masters like Reynolds with an Ameri...
About the Artist
Thomas Sully · 1783–1872
Thomas Sully, born on June 19, 1783, in Horncastle, Lincolnshire, England, to actor parents Matthew Sully and Sarah Chester, emigrated with his family to Charleston, South Carolina, in 1792. Raised in a theatrical environment, young Thomas debuted as a tumbler at age 11 before discovering his artistic talent. He studied miniature painting with his brother Lawrence Sully, brother-in-law Jean Belzon...