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Image Not Available for Portrait of Sarah Waters Meade (Mrs. David Meade, Jr., 1749-1829)
Portrait of Sarah Waters Meade (Mrs. David Meade, Jr., 1749-1829)
Image Not Available for Portrait of Sarah Waters Meade (Mrs. David Meade, Jr., 1749-1829)

Portrait of Sarah Waters Meade (Mrs. David Meade, Jr., 1749-1829)

Date1770 (probably)
Attributed to Cosmo John Alexander (ca. 1724 - 1772)
OriginAmerica, Virginia, Williamsburg
MediumOil on canvas
DimensionsUnframed: 30 1/4 x 25 1/8in. (76.8 x 63.8cm) and Framed: 37 3/8 x 32 1/4 x 2 1/2in.
Credit LineGift of Mrs. Rose S. Cooper
Object number1989-312,A
DescriptionHalf-length portrait of a young woman turned three-quarters to the left, set within feigned spandrels, her hands not shown. A twisted scarf and a string of pearls are tucked into her pulled back dark hair. The scarf is lavender colored and incorporates a double gold stripe, with a gold-colored scalloped edging; it appears to hang down behind her head and to be drawn forward around her proper right arm. Twisted and wrapped around her waist is a length of what appears to be the same fabric---but colored dull blue rather than lavender. She wears a loose wrap of a shimmering, pale, gray-mauve colored fabric that is lined with bright blue, the ruffles of her white shift appearing above a lavender-colored bodice. Her eyes are hazel, or pale brown.

The 3 7/8-inch gilded frame is an early 19th c. replacement; it consists of a scoop molding with an elongated [bellflower?] repeat near the sight edge and beading before the outer return. See "Notes" for the frame's history.

Label TextSarah ("Sally") Waters was the only child of William Waters and his wife, Sarah Prentis. She lived in her parents' Williamsburg home (located on Duke of Gloucester Street and today called the Waters-Coleman House) before her 1768 marriage to David Meade, Jr. (1744-1830) of Nansemond County, Virginia. Meade built "Maycox" plantation to his own design in Prince George County on the James River; the couple lived there until 1796, when they moved to an estate near Lexington, Kentucky.

Cosmo Alexander is best known today as Gilbert Stuart's first painting insructor. He was born in Scotland and painted portraits in Edinburgh and London prior to emigrating to New York about 1768. He was active in New Jersey, Rhode Island, and Philadelphia before coming to Virginia in 1770. He returned to Scotland with his protege, Stuart, in 1771 and remained there until his death a year later.
ProvenanceThe portrait is believed to have descended from the subject to her daughter, Mrs. Nathaniel Massie (Susan Meade); to her daughter, Mrs. William Y. Strong (Ann Massie); to her son, Joseph Strong; to the Cooper family. Details of descent between Joseph Strong and the Coopers is still to be clarified.
Exhibition(s)