Matthew Harris Jouett

American, 1787/1788 - 1827

(not assigned)Kentucky, USA

SchoolPortraiture

Biography(b nr Harrodsburg, KY, 22 April 1787-8; d nr Lexington, KY, 10 Aug 1827).
American painter. In 1804 he enrolled in Transylvania College in Lexington, KY, and by 1812 he was practising law in the town. After serving in the War of 1812, he began painting portraits. Around June 1816 he travelled to Philadelphia for instruction but soon moved on to Boston, where he spent about four months in the studio of Gilbert Stuart. Returning to Lexington, Jouett set up a practice painting both portraits and miniatures. In the winters he travelled south, seeking commissions in New Orleans, Natchez, MS, and other towns along the Mississippi River. In 1825 he painted a portrait of General Marie Joseph du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette (KY Hist. Soc., on loan to Frankfort, KY, State Capitol) at the request of the Kentucky legislature. In addition to portraits, Jouett also attempted landscape painting and organized art exhibitions to benefit various causes. One of the first artists to emerge from America's then western frontier, he was lauded by his contemporaries and is today remembered for his pioneering accomplishments.
Jouett's straightforward style owes much to the example of Stuart. His portrait of John Grimes (c. 1824; New York, Met.) is typical in its emphasis on head and features, set against a simple background, while such portraits as that of Justice Thomas Todd (c. 1825; Frankfort, KY Hist. Soc.) demonstrate his knowledge of the standard vocabulary of state portraiture. (Source: Sally Mills, "Matthew Harris Jouett," The Grove Dictionary of Art Online (Oxford University Press, Accessed July 7, 2004), )

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