GIBBONS, James Cardinal (1886 – No. 1)

James Gibbons (1834-1921), the first American Cardinal, was nominated to this position by Pope Leo XIII on June 30 1886, had been created Archbishop of Baltimore on October 3 1877.

Muller-Ury painted him soon after his election to the Cardinalate, and this was his first important commission since he arrived in the United States the previous year. The handlist of the exhibition at FRENCH & CO. INC., 1947, states that it was this commission that brought the artist to America. This is therefore untrue.

Bibliography:

James Gibbons (Archbishop of Baltimore), A Retrospect of 50 Years, 1916.

Allen Sinclair Will, Life of Cardinal Gibbons, 1922.

I should like to thank Reverend Paul K. Thomas, Archivist of the Archdiocese of Baltimore, 320, Cathedral Street, Baltimore, Maryland 21201, for providing the information below on Muller-Ury’s portraits of Gibbons.

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Painted in 1886. Archbishop Corrigan of New York wrote to Cardinal Gibbons on August 3, 1886 as follows:

‘Mr. Muller, the Artist, handed me yesterday…your letter of July 9th, in which you so kindly announce your intention of presenting me with your portrait; and at the same time he also delivered the finished work. Three other clergymen were present at the time and were good enough to express their opinion on the artist’s success. I hardly think it is a distinguished success…” (Archdiocese of Baltimore Archives, 81 Q8)

This picture, therefore, ought to be in the care of the Archdiocese of New York but it cannot be located.