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
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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 pageExhibition 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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Suggest FeedbackPublished 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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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.
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