Public collection via the Art Institute of Chicago
AT-00001392Dr. Joseph Klapp
by Thomas Sully
Provenance
Commissioned from the artist by the sitter (1783–1843), Philadelphia, PA, along with a portrait of his wife, Mrs. Anna Klapp (born Milnor, 1783–1841) (1950.1362), begun June 1, 1814, and delivered September 23, 1814 [Thomas Sully papers, 1792–1871, reel N18, Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, copies in curatorial object file]; by descent to his son Dr. William Henry Klapp (1817–1855), 1843; by descent to his son Dr. William H. Klapp (1849 or 1850–1924), Philadelphia, PA; by descent to his nephew Langdon Williams (1861 or 1862–1949), Philadelphia, PA, and Brookline, MA, by 1924. Richard C. Morrison, Concord, MA, by 1950; sold to M. Knoedler and Co., New York, 1950; sold to the Art Institute of Chicago, 1950.
Exhibition history
New York, C.W. Lyon Galleries, Important Examples of American Old Masters, ill. as Portrait of Dr. Joseph Klapp of Philadelphia (New York,1950), n. pag., ill. Art Institute of Chicago, Two Centuries of American Art, 1750-1950, Oct. 1, 1959–Jan. 10, 1960, no cat. [downloadable checklist available].
Publications
Charles Henry Hart, “Thomas Sully’s Register of Portraits, 1801–1871,” Part I, Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, 33 (1909), p. 65. no. 956. –––––. A Register of Portraits Painted by Thomas Sully, 1801–1871 (Philadelphia, 1909), p. 98, no. 956. Edward Biddle and Mantle Fielding, The Life and Works of Thomas Sully (1783–1872) (Wickersham Press, 1921), p. 200, no. 991. Paintings in the Art Institute of Chicago (Chicago, 1961), p. 443. David A. Hanks, “American Paintings in the Art Institute of Chicago,” Magazine Antiques (September 1973), p. 415.
Data retrieved from the Art Institute of Chicago on October 8, 2026. The museum may have updated its record since.
Quick Overview
- Artist
- Thomas Sully / American, born England, 1783–1872
- Date
- 1814
- Medium
- Oil on canvas
- Dimensions
- 91.4 × 71.1 cm (36 × 28 in.)
- Type
- Painting
- Classification
- painting
- Place
- Philadelphia
- Department
- Arts of the Americas
- Credit line
- Purchased with funds provided by Annie Swan Coburn to the Mr. and Mrs. Lewis L. Coburn Memorial Collection
- Accession no.
- 1950.1363
More by Thomas Sully in museum collections
Open-access museum record · AT-00001392
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