Portrait of William Bell

Date1808

Artist William Joseph Aldridge (1751 - after 1813)

OriginAmerica, Virginia, Fauquier County

MediumPastel on heavy wove composite (layered) paper

DimensionsPrimary support, flattened and very irreg.: 23 x 18 3/4in. (58.4 x 47.6cm) and Framed: 24 7/8 x 20 1/2in.

Credit LineMuseum Purchase

Object number1978-139,A-C

DescriptionA bust-length portrait of a youngish man turned one-quarter towards the viewer's left, his head and gaze turned slightly towards the viewer. His dark brown hair is brushed forward towards his face and he has sideburns. He wears a dark blue coat with an M-cut collar over a white ruffled shirt with an upturned collar, a white neck cloth tied in the front, and two waistcoats, one white and one red. His eyes are very pale blue; both eyes and eyebrows turn gently down at the outer edges. The background is a medium gray-brown.

As of 9/29/2010, the frame has not been located for close examination.
Label TextThe portrait was in extremely deteriorated condition at the time of receipt and, ultimately, may prove unsalvagable as an exhibition image. Nevertheless, it remains a useful document for studying the work of pastelist William Joseph Aldridge. It was acquired with portraits of two others of members of the Bell family of Fauquier County, Virginia (acc. nos. 1978-140 and 1978-141), but the sitters' exact identities and their relationships with one another have not been defined. Aldridge signed two of the portraits, including this one; the third is attributed to the artist based on its stylistic similarity to the others and to other signed examples of the artist's work. Earmarks of Aldridge's style include elongated heads, long, thin-bridged noses, almond-shaped eyes with the pupils placed abnormally high in the irises, and full, long lips separated by lines and set off by heavy shadows below the lower lips.
InscribedThe white pine backboard consists of two separate pieces; they appear to have been so originally (vs. one piece that subsequently broke into two). Dark brown ink inscriptions in script run parallel to the longer (vertical) dimension on the larger piece: "8 Bell/1808" and "Wm Bell's Likeness/1808/By Aldridge" and, facing in the opposite direction, "P. F."
Ink around a small, natural knothole in the wood appears to be a playful attempt to turn the irregularity into a representation of an eye.

Provenance1978-139, -140, and -141 were all "found in a house being razed," according to an intermediary, Mrs. William J. Lloyd of Arlington, Va., who wrote on behalf of Georgia Luthy, the seller; the location of the house was never given and remains unknown.