View of North End

DateFirst quarter of the 19th century

Attributed to Felix Thomas Sharples (ca. 1786 - after 1824)

MediumInk on paper

DimensionsOverall: 6 1/2 × 7 3/4in. (16.5 × 19.7cm)

Credit LineMuseum Purchase, The Friends of Colonial Williamsburg Collections Fund

Object number2023-130

DescriptionLandscape view of a manor house with two wings surrounded by dependencies, overlooking a river. A sailboat with people is drawn in the center foreground.
Label TextThis small sketch is the only known surving depiction of the Tabb family home of North End. The drawing descended in the Tabb family of Mathews County, Virginia. The last known family member to own the piece was a direct decedent of Henry Wythe Tabb (1791-1864) and his second wife, Martha Tompkins (1807-1842). Henry Wythe Tabb's first wife, Hester Van Bibber, had taken drawing lessons from Felix Thomas Sharples the pastel artist who this drawing is attributed to.

ProvenanceBefore 1959; descended in the family of Dr. Henry Wythe Tabb [1791-1864] (Mathews Co., VA); 1959; by inheritance to John Wilkins Sanders [1902-1967] and Kathryn Albertson Sanders [1912-1979] (Mathews Co., VA); Before 1975, sold to private collection; Before 2018-2023, H. Marshall Goodman Jr. [1943-present] (Richmond, VA); 2023 The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation (Williamsburg, VA) purchased from Jeffery S. Evans & Associates (Mt. Crawford, VA, September 23, 2023, Lot 1189)