The Story behind a Portrait: Theodore Roosevelt.

Hey guys, it’s Adventure Van here with a blog about the story behind the Portrait of Theodore Roosevelt by Gari Melchers. It might not seem like something which would have a story, simply being a piece of art, but it is in fact a testament to why we have the Freer Gallery on public display in this age instead of in a private collector’s basement somewhere.

In 1904, Charles Lang Freer was writing up a ‘will’ of some-sorts, stating that upon his death, his great collection of art would become the property of the United States and be housed in a building constructed with funds from his bequest. This gallery would allow every object to be showcased in a “proper and attractive manner.”

Freer’s collection was based around groups of objects acting as one showcase, so when a committee came to check the value and art of each piece and did so one at a time, while the art was of great value, it lost some of it’s active spark. Nonetheless, the art moved on to the next phase of being put on the backburner in Washington,  where it got postponed for several months.

In 1905, however, when it came to what seemed a complete standstill on the problem, a friend of Freer, Charles Moore, wrote to the president, who at the time was Theodore Roosevelt, to immediately accept the gift. Roosevelt responded by writing to Freer: “Can’t you come down here and spend a night at the White House next week? … I desire to speak to you about the magnificent gift you desire to make to the government and which I wish to see accepted without haggling or quibbling.”

Roosevelt casually arranged a meeting from there, and soon Freer ate at the White House with the president himself. After Freer’s visit and talks with the president, the president had the chief justice of the Smithsonian Institution. Alexander Graham Bell himself helped champion the art gift until it was finally accepted and became the art exhibition we see today.

However, as Roosevelt had helped the gift pass through so well, Freer commissioned Gari Melchers, a direct and sincere artist, to do a portrait of the president himself, seeing how “… his (Gari’s) artstyle so well matches that of the president’s character…”. It was agreed that the Roosevelt would be painted wearing his riding costume, and Melchers and Freer decided on the final details.

After the portrait was finished and gifted to the collection, Freer and the president had parting  words and left each other. While they spoke again in the furture, nothing of such importance drew fourth another painting. Even though Freer died before the showcase building was built, the portrait of Roosevelt can be found there today.

That’s Adventure Van, painting out.