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The Metropolitan Museum of Art has unveiled John Trumbull’s life-size portrait of founding father Alexander Hamilton for the first time ever. The international financial services group Credit Suisse donated the painting to both the Met and the Crystal Bridges Museum in Bentonville, Arkansas back in March. The painting had been on loan to the Crystal Bridges Museum since it opened to the public in 2011.

Credit Suisse acquired the striking portrait in 2000 when it absorbed the New York-based investment bank Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette. Richard Jenrette, one of the bank’s founding partners, had assembled a remarkable art collection for the company that became part of Credit Suisse’s acquisition. Credit Suisse decided that giving the portrait to two well-known institutions would maximize the public’s enjoyment of the work by expanding its audience.

The painting, which was commissioned by the New York Chamber of Commerce in 1771 while Hamilton was serving as President Washington’s Secretary of Treasury, will remain on view at the Met until 2014 when it will return to the Crystal Bridges Museum. Eventually the painting will be on view at each institution for two-year stretches.

The international financial services group, Credit Suisse, has decided to donate a portrait of Alexander Hamilton by Revolution-era painter, John Trumbull (1756-1843), to not one, but two museums. The painting has been on loan to the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville, Arkansas since it opened to the public in 2011.

Credit Suisse decided that giving the portrait to Crystal Bridges and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, two well-known institutions, would maximize the public’s enjoyment of the work by expanding its audience. The shared ownership will see that the portrait remains in Arkansas until the summer, when it will travel to the Met for a year. The painting will return to Crystal Bridges in 2014 for another year. Eventually the painting will be on view at each museum for two-year stretches.

Credit Suisse acquired the striking full-length portrait in 2000 when it absorbed the New York-based investment bank Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette. Richard Jenrette, one of the bank’s founding partners, had assembled a remarkable art collection for the company that became part of Credit Suisse’s acquisition.  

The New York Chamber of Commerce commissioned Trumbull to paint the Hamilton portrait in 1791 while he was serving as President Washington’s Secretary of the Treasury.