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1956-563, Portrait
Portrait of Anne Randolph Harrison (Mrs. Benjamin Harrison, d. 1767)
1956-563, Portrait

Portrait of Anne Randolph Harrison (Mrs. Benjamin Harrison, d. 1767)

DateProbably 1764-1768
Attributed to Francis Cotes (1726-1770)
OriginEngland, London
MediumOil on canvas
DimensionsUnframed: 30 1/4 x 24 3/4in. (76.8 x 62.9cm) and Framed: 37 1/4 x 32 1/8 x 1 5/8in.
Credit LineMuseum Purchase
Object number1956-563,A&B
DescriptionA half-length portrait of a woman set in feigned spandrels, her hands not shown. She faces nearly full front, her body turned slightly to the viewer's right, her head to the viewer's left. A medium blue drape covers one shoulder and falls behind her. She wears pale oyster-colored "undress," i.e., a loose wrap unrelated to everyday attire, with a pink sash and pink undersleeves. A pink ribbon holds a double-strand choker of pearls about her neck, and she wears drop pearl earrings. Her dark brown hair is puffed and pulled up and back, with a pearls and a ribbon at the top back of her head. She has dark blue-gray eyes.
The 3 7/8-inch black-painted bolection molded frame has an added gilded liner consisting of a sanded flat followed by a row of acanthus leaf decoration at the sight edge. The frame has not been thoroughly examined for age estimate as of 10 April 2009.


Label TextAnne Randolph was one of eight children born to William Randolph III and Anne Harrison Randolph of Wilton plantation in Henrico County, Virginia. She was considered quite a catch among the Virginia gentry. In 1763, Thomas Jefferson inquired of John Page, "How did [Anne] look at you when you danced with her at Southall's [tavern]?” He added, "I hear that Ben. Harrison has been to Wilton: let me know his success." Harrison indeed succeeded, marrying Anne later that year.

Artist Francis Cotes was considered one of London's most fashionable portraitist in the 1760s. Anne’s likeness was probably copied by him from a miniature portrait as there are no records of her traveling to England.

What’s the Connection?
Anne Randolph belonged to one of colonial Virginia’s most prominent families. She was cousin to Speaker of the House of Burgesses, Peyton Randolph, and niece to his wife Betty Harrison Randolph.

ProvenanceThe painting descended in the Harrison family until it was acquired by Colonial Williamsburg. The line is thought to have been:
From the subject's husband, Benjamin Harrison (1743-1807) of Lower Brandon; to his son, George Evelyn Harrison (1797-1839) of Lower Brandon; to his son, George Evelyn Harrison, Jr. (1837-1880) of Lower Brandon; to his son, George Evelyn Harrison III (1867-1908); to his two daughters, Mrs. Louis Estell Fagan (nee Evelyn Byrd Harrison)(1891-1972) and Mrs. Frederick Clarke McCormack (nee Virginia Ritchie Harrison)(1897-1973) who was, later, Mrs. Desmond Roberts and, still later, Mrs. William Roy Conley; Mrs. Fagan appears to have relinguished her interest in the picture by 1956, in which year it was sold to CWF by dealers Thomas and Constance Williams on behalf of Mrs. Conley.