AKU-2009-004

Edmund Charles Tarbell (attributed), American, 1862–1938

Portrait of Andrew W. Mellon, Secretary of the Treasury, 1921

1921

Oil on canvas

138 × 108 cm

Acquisition

Purchased, 2009

Curator’s Note

Andrew Mellon served as Secretary of the Treasury from 1921 to 1932 under three consecutive presidents. He simultaneously controlled Gulf Oil, Alcoa Aluminum, and the Mellon National Bank. In 1934, the Roosevelt administration indicted him for tax evasion. He responded by offering to donate his private art collection — valued at $80 million — to the United States government, along with $15 million to construct a building to house it. The National Gallery of Art opened in Washington in 1941, four years after his death. The charges were dropped. This portrait was completed in the year of his appointment.

Exhibition

gilded-age-digital-age