Matthew Harris Jouett (April 22, 1788 – August 10, 1827) was an American painter who specialized in portrait painting and painted portraits of prominent Americans such as Thomas Jefferson, George Rogers Clark, and the Marquis de Lafayette.
Personal life and career Jouett was the son of Sallie Robards and Jack Jouett, a hero of the American Revolution. The younger Jouett graduated from Transylvania University. He studied law in Frankfort, Kentucky, for one year with the chief justice of Kentucky's Appellate Court, Judge George M. Bibb. The father supposedly commented about the son's career "I sent Matthew to college to make a gentleman of him, and he has turned out to be nothing but a damned sign painter."
Jouett served as a junior officer of the 28th Infantry Regiment during the War of 1812 and was among the survivors of the Battle of Frenchtown. The company payroll of $6000 disappeared during the slaughter. Jouett restored the missing funds to the militia, based on his earnings as a painter. He also painted portraits of his fellow soldiers from memory, including Hart and Colonel Allen.
Matthew Harris Jouett married Margaret "Peggy" Henderson Allen of Lexington, Kentucky on May 25, 1812. They had nine children. Jouett was promoted to captain during the War of 1812. Afterwards, he studied portraiture and went to Boston to study with Gilbert Stuart in 1816.
He painted in New Orleans from 1817 to 1827 during the winter season and was listed in the 1824 New Orleans Directory as a portrait painter working at 49 Canal Street. He was commissioned by the Kentucky legislature to paint a portrait of the Marquis de Lafayette. Jouett also painted Thomas Jefferson and the child Catherine Cornelia Prather.
It wasn't until the 1893 Chicago World Fair, that his fame as a painter began. His paintings were greatly appreciated by the curators and the general public. His work is more collectible today than it was during his lifetime, and as such catches higher prices. Jouett became one of the most highly esteemed portrait painters in the United States, honored with a major centenary exhibition at the Speed Museum in his home state.
Matthew Jouett died in Lexington, Kentucky in 1827 is buried in Cave Hill Cemetery.
Selected works
See also James Edward Jouett - one of Matthew Harris Jouett's sons, is immortalized in Admiral David Farragut's quote from the American Civil War Battle of Mobile Bay - "Damn the torpedoes! Four bells! Captain Drayton go ahead! Jouett full speed!"
References
Sources
Floyd, William Barrow. Matthew Harris Jouett: Portraitist of the Ante-Bellum South. 1980. Transylvania Printing Company, Lexington, KY. Mills, Sally. "Jouett, Matthew Harris." In Grove Art Online. Oxford Art Online, (accessed January 4, 2012; subscription required).
External links
Matthew Harris Jouett at National Gallery of Art Entry for Matthew Harris Jouett on the Union List of Artist Names Matthew Harris Jouett on Artcyclopedia (with links to works in various museum collections) Jack Jouett House Historic Site, Versailles, KY Entry for Matthew Jouett in the archive of the Collins Collection