Portrait of Mary Tabb Mayo Atkinson (Mrs. Robert Atkinson, 1776-1823)
Date1821-1823
Attributed to
George Cooke (1793-1849)
MediumOil on canvas
DimensionsOverall: 35 3/4" H x 30 3/4" W; canvas approx. 29 3/4" H x 34 3/4" W
Credit LineGift of Fielding L. Williams, Jr.
Object number2020-139,A&B
DescriptionPortrait of a woman wearing a blue gown with a lace shawl and bonnet. She is seated in a chair in front of a red drape and brown background.Label TextThis portrait of Mary Tabb Mayo Aktinson was most likely rendered between 1821 and 1823, the year of her death. She and her husband Robert lived at Mansfield, the Atkinson family home in Dinwiddie County, Virginia, near present-day Petersburg. The couple had 11 children, four of whom became ministers within the protestant church. Most notably, their son Thomas was elected and consecrated Bishop of North Carolina.
Mary's likness is an early example by artist George Cooke prior to any formal training. While he was seen to show artistic promise at an early age, he did not pursue portrait painting in earnest until 1819. Cooke's earliest commissions were from friends and associates in the Richmond area, including his wife's family and that of his brother John, an Episcopal minister who married Elizabeth Edmonia Churchill, distant relative of the Atkinsons.
ProvenanceFrom the sitter to her daughter, Agnes Atkinson (1810-1885); to her daughter, Isabella Burwell Mayo (1841-1912); to her daughter, Sallie T. Mayo Cameron; to her daughter, Sally Cameron Labouisse; to her daughter Sally Labouisse Harrison; to her daughter, Sally Harrison; to her distant cousin, Fielding L. Williams, Jr., who donated the piece to Colonial Williamsburg.
