Portrait of a Woman
ArtistCircle of
Alexander Roslin
Swedish, 1718–1793, active Paris from 1752
Datecirca 1765–1775
MediumOil on paper mounted to canvas
Dimensionsheight, width, and depth: 16 3/4 × 21 1/2 × 1/2 in. (42.5 × 54.6 × 1.3cm)
height, width, and depth (framed): 22 × 26 × 1 in. (55.9 × 66 × 2.5cm)
height, width, and depth (framed): 22 × 26 × 1 in. (55.9 × 66 × 2.5cm)
ClassificationsPaintings
Credit LineGift of Susie and Dave Jones, from the estate of William Davis Jones III and his great-aunt Frances Peyton Jones Inman Dunn
Object number2024.16.1
DescriptionA life-size, bust-length portrait of a woman against a plain background. Her hair is in an elaborate updo with pearls woven throughout. She wears large pearl earring and a pearl necklace and a hooded blue robe that is lace-trimmed and fur-lined.
On View
Not on viewProvenanceCreated France, ca. 1765–1775. Dr. James Aloysius Steuart (1828–1903), Baltimore, MD [1]; to his daughters Maria Louisa Steuart (1852–1938) and Emily Baxter Steuart (1854–1937), Baltimore [2]; to their niece Hannah Fox Richards Taylor (née Steuart) (1887–1946), Baltimore [3]; to her sister Lydia Morris Steuart (1893–1950), Baltimore, MD and Rapidan, VA [4]; Frances Peyton Inman Dunn (née Jones) (1877–1978), Rapidan, VA, and Raleigh [5]; to her niece Margaret Anne Jones (1901–1988), Raleigh; to her nephew William Davis (Dave) Jones III (1926–2018) and Mildred Deaton (Susie) Burnett Jones (1928–2020), Raleigh [6]; to their children Della Jones Fried, Atlanta, and Annetta Hoggard, Raleigh.
[1] James Steuart was Baltimore Commissioner of Health from 1873–1882. According to family account, the painting was given to Dr. Steuart by a German patient in exchange for medical services, in lieu of payment. His wife was Sara Elizabeth Baxter (1828–1892), they married in 1851.
[2] Maria Louisa and Emily were the two eldest children of James A. Steuart. They both never married or had children, so upon their deaths in 1937 and 1938, the painting would have passed through the family of their brother Arthur Baxter Steuart (1856–1912), the next oldest child.
[3] Eldest child of Aurthur Baxter Steuart and Susan Allen Ellicott Steuart (1858–1931; m. 1886).
[4] According to a letter from Hannah Fox Taylor, dated July 18, 1945, and referenced in the Frick Art Reference Library information on the painting, it was supposed to be inherited by her only children: Mrs. Benjamin Hollis Hand (Hannah Steuart Taylor; b. 1911) of Pelham, GA, and Mrs. Delano Ames III (Emily Taylor; b. 1922). The painting evidently instead passed to Hannah Fox Taylor’s sister Lydia, from whom it passed into the Jones family and thence by descent to the present owner. The circumstances of this change are currently unknown, as are the death dates for both daughters. Hannah and Lydia were evidently close: though there were two other siblings between them in age, Lydia was the maid of honor at Hannah’s wedding to Howard Richards Taylor in 1910.
[5] According to family account, Lydia Steuart was a lifelong friend of Frances Dunn (wife of William Henry Dunn [1852–1922, m. 1911]), and gifted the painting to her, which had been in the Steuart family since the early 1800s. According to family genealogy, Frances Dunn was born in Atlanta. Newspaper accounts attest to the fact that Lydia Steuart and Frances Jones Dunn shared a home in Virginia (first in Dunsale, then in Rapidan), from at least 1937 through 1945. Frances’s husband William died in 1922 and Lydia died in 1950. At some point Frances relocated to Raleigh, presumably to be closer to much of her family, and died there in 1978.
[6] Dave Jones worked for The News & Observer from 1949-1991, when he retired from the position of associate publisher and joined the board of directors. In correspondence with the Frick Art Reference Library related to the painting in 1981, Dave Jones noted that it was in the possession of his aunt Margaret Ann Jones (1901–1988). In an updated letter to the Frick in 1989, Dave Jones notes that the painting had passed to him upon Margaret’s death in 1988. In an undated attestation on the history of the painting, Dave Jones notes that the painting was acquired by Lydia on her father’s death, but the Frick Art Reference Library traces another history through the Steuart family, through Arthur’s sisters Louisa and Emily, eventually to his daughter (Lydia’s sister) Mrs. Howard Richards Taylor (see note [4]).
[1] James Steuart was Baltimore Commissioner of Health from 1873–1882. According to family account, the painting was given to Dr. Steuart by a German patient in exchange for medical services, in lieu of payment. His wife was Sara Elizabeth Baxter (1828–1892), they married in 1851.
[2] Maria Louisa and Emily were the two eldest children of James A. Steuart. They both never married or had children, so upon their deaths in 1937 and 1938, the painting would have passed through the family of their brother Arthur Baxter Steuart (1856–1912), the next oldest child.
[3] Eldest child of Aurthur Baxter Steuart and Susan Allen Ellicott Steuart (1858–1931; m. 1886).
[4] According to a letter from Hannah Fox Taylor, dated July 18, 1945, and referenced in the Frick Art Reference Library information on the painting, it was supposed to be inherited by her only children: Mrs. Benjamin Hollis Hand (Hannah Steuart Taylor; b. 1911) of Pelham, GA, and Mrs. Delano Ames III (Emily Taylor; b. 1922). The painting evidently instead passed to Hannah Fox Taylor’s sister Lydia, from whom it passed into the Jones family and thence by descent to the present owner. The circumstances of this change are currently unknown, as are the death dates for both daughters. Hannah and Lydia were evidently close: though there were two other siblings between them in age, Lydia was the maid of honor at Hannah’s wedding to Howard Richards Taylor in 1910.
[5] According to family account, Lydia Steuart was a lifelong friend of Frances Dunn (wife of William Henry Dunn [1852–1922, m. 1911]), and gifted the painting to her, which had been in the Steuart family since the early 1800s. According to family genealogy, Frances Dunn was born in Atlanta. Newspaper accounts attest to the fact that Lydia Steuart and Frances Jones Dunn shared a home in Virginia (first in Dunsale, then in Rapidan), from at least 1937 through 1945. Frances’s husband William died in 1922 and Lydia died in 1950. At some point Frances relocated to Raleigh, presumably to be closer to much of her family, and died there in 1978.
[6] Dave Jones worked for The News & Observer from 1949-1991, when he retired from the position of associate publisher and joined the board of directors. In correspondence with the Frick Art Reference Library related to the painting in 1981, Dave Jones noted that it was in the possession of his aunt Margaret Ann Jones (1901–1988). In an updated letter to the Frick in 1989, Dave Jones notes that the painting had passed to him upon Margaret’s death in 1988. In an undated attestation on the history of the painting, Dave Jones notes that the painting was acquired by Lydia on her father’s death, but the Frick Art Reference Library traces another history through the Steuart family, through Arthur’s sisters Louisa and Emily, eventually to his daughter (Lydia’s sister) Mrs. Howard Richards Taylor (see note [4]).
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