Portrait of Elizabeth Chandler Plummer (Mrs. Thomas Plummer)

Date1825

Artist Edwin Plummer (1802-1880)

OriginAmerica, Massachusetts, Haverhill (probably)

MediumWatercolor, pencil, and gouache on wove paper

Dimensions4 15/16" x 3 5/8" (12.5 cm. x 9.0 cm.) unframed: 6 1/2" x 5 1/4" framed.

Credit LineGift of Abby Aldrich Rockefeller

Object number1931.300.4

DescriptionFigure facing right, waist length, wearing a black dress (drawn in a gloss and matte black), a white collar and white cap with black and white striped ribbons. She has blue eyes and blackish gray hair. Her face is delicately drawn. Brown column to right; green drapery to left above; brown and mottle green partition behind (perhaps a stylized sofa). Figure holds a white hankerchief in right hand initialed "ECP". Companion portrait to MR. THOMAS PLUMMER (1931.300.3).
Label TextEdwin Plummer used the formula-style back- drops found in his grandparents' portraits in at least two other examples of his work. The likeness of his grandfather, Thomas Plummer, companion to this portrait, is thought to be the artist's only signed work.

Thomas was born in Haverhill on March 10, 1756; he married Elizabeth Chandler of Billerica, who was born August 6, 1760. Elizabeth was said to have been a talented woman with a particular interest in literary matters. She died on January 11, 1839.
InscribedThe initials of the sitter, "ECP," are lettered in ink on her handkerchief at lower right.
MarkingsThe secondary support, which is presumed to be original, bears the partial watermark "J WHA(TMAN)/TURKE(Y MILL)/18-" for the Maidstone, Kent, England firm operated by the Hollingworth brothers between 1806 and 1859.
ProvenanceFound in New York State; Edith Gregor Halpert, Downtown Gallery, New York, N.Y.; Mrs. John D. Rockefeller, Jr.; Given to C. W. by Mrs. John D. Rockefeller, Jr.