Mrs. John Pitts

John Smibert American, 1688-1751
On View

in

American, Level 2, West Wing

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About the Artwork

Mrs. John Pitts

1735

John Smibert

1688-1751

American

Unknown

Oil on canvas

Unframed: 36 1/8 × 28 3/4 inches (91.8 × 73 cm) Framed: 42 3/4 × 34 7/16 × 2 1/8 inches (108.6 × 87.5 × 5.4 cm)

Paintings

American Art before 1950

Founders Society Purchase, Gibbs-Williams Fund

58.353

This work is in the public domain.

Markings

------

Provenance

S. Lendall Pitts (Paris, France)

by 1949, Mrs. S. Lendall Pitts (Norfolk, Virginia, USA). on loan to Mrs. Arthur Maxwell Parker (Helen Strong Pitts) (Grosse Pointe Farms, Michigan, USA). 1958-present, purchase by the Detroit Institute of Arts (Detroit, Michigan, USA)

For more information on provenance and its important function in the museum, please visit:

Provenance page

Exhibition History

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The exhibition history of a number of objects in our collection only begins after their acquisition by the museum, and may reflect an incomplete record.

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Published References

[Smibert’s Obituary]. Boston News Letter (April 4, 1751).

[Smibert’s Obituary]. Boston Gazette (April 9, 1751).

Goodwin, D. Memorial of the Life and Services of James Pitts and his Sons. Chicago, 1881, p. 33.

Goodwin, D. Provincial Pictures by Brush and Pen. Chicago, 1886, pp. 7, 14 (ill.).

New England Historical and Genealogical Register 7, (1928) p. 15.

A Loan Exhibition of Colonial and Early Federal Art. Exh. cat., Detroit Institute of Arts. Detroit, 1930, no. 80.

Foote, H. John Smibert. Cambridge, 1950, pp. 160, 166, 184.

Painting in America: The Story of 450 Years. Exh. cat., Detroit Institute of Arts. Detroit, 1957, no. 15.

Eight Generations of the Pitts Family. Exh. cat., Detroit Institute of Arts. Detroit, 1959, pp. 14-15 (ill.).

Payne, Elizabeth. “Pitts Family Portraits of the 18th Century.” Antiques 77, (January 1960): pp. 87-89.

The Notebook of John Smibert. Boston, 1969, p. 93.

Saunders, R. The Collections of the Detroit Institute of Arts American Paintings, Vol. 1. Detroit, 1987.

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Catalogue Raisoneé

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Credit Line for Reproduction

John Smibert, Mrs. John Pitts, 1735, oil on canvas. Detroit Institute of Arts, Founders Society Purchase, Gibbs-Williams Fund, 58.353.

Mrs. John Pitts
Mrs. John Pitts