The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of April 18, 2024

"Old Pat," The Independent Beggar

"Old Pat," The Independent Beggar

c. 1819
(American, 1783–1861)
America, 19th century
oil on wood
Framed: 68 x 57 x 7 cm (26 3/4 x 22 7/16 x 2 3/4 in.); Unframed: 47.8 x 36.9 cm (18 13/16 x 14 1/2 in.)
Gift of J. H. Wade 1916.998
Location: not on view

Description

With this study of a disheveled person—perhaps a man named Patrick MacGregor—the popular society portraitist Samuel Waldo challenged assumptions that successful New Yorkers may have made about their city's prosperity. Waldo sold many copies of an engraving portraying "Old Pat" and made a finished portrait of him called The Beggar's Dessert that included a meager bone and bowl as attributes. In this painting, the sitter's gaunt, careworn features suggest considering him in sympathetic terms, yet his forceful gaze presents him as someone who cannot easily be made into an object of pity.
  • Albert Rosenthal, Philadelphia (1916; acquired by The Cleveland Museum of Art from J. H. Wade in 1916.
  • "Exhibitions." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 3, no. 4 (1916): 1-3. Mentioned: p. 3 www.jstor.org
    "Jarvis's Portrait of Thomas Apthorp Cooper." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 5, no. 2/3 (1918): 20. Mentioned: p. 20 www.jstor.org
    The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1925. Reproduced: p. 9 archive.org
    The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1928. Reproduced: p. 9 archive.org
  • The Twentieth Anniversary Exhibition: The Official Art Exhibit of the Great Lakes Exposition. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (June 26-October 4, 1936).
    Cleveland, The Cleveland Museum of Art, Twentieth Anniversary Exhibition of the Cleveland Museum of Art: The Official Art Exhibit of the Great Lakes Exposition (26 June-4 October, 1936), p. 25, cat. no. 33.
    Inaugural Exhibition. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (co-organizer) (June 6-September 20, 1916).
    Cleveland, The Cleveland Museum of Art, Inaugural Exhibition (6 June-20 September, 1916), p. 40, cat. no. 138.
  • {{cite web|title="Old Pat," The Independent Beggar|url=false|author=Samuel Lovett Waldo|year=c. 1819|access-date=18 April 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1916.998