Portrait of Mary Ann Bacon [later Mrs. Chauncey Whittlesey](1787-1869)

Date1795

Artist William Jennys (1774-1859)

OriginAmerica, Connecticut, Litchfield County (n. 1)

MediumOil on canvas

DimensionsUnframed: 30 1/2 x 24 1/2in. (77.5 x 62.2cm) and Framed: 33 1/4 x 28 1/4in.

Credit LineMuseum Purchase

Object number1963.100.4

DescriptionA half-length portrait of a young girl, shown standing, her body turned slightly towards the (viewer's) right, her lower arms and hands not shown, and her gaze towards the viewer; feigned spandrels fill the four corners of the composition. She has dark blue eyes and shoulder-length dark brown hair that curls at the ends and is cut in bangs in the front. Her scoop-necked dress consists of a sheer white layer over a pink under-dress; it has elbow-length sleeves trimmed with pink bows above and below the elbows and at the center front of the neckline. The dress is drawn in at her natural waistline. A ruffle of lace trims the neckline.

The 2 1/4-inch flat, black-painted frame is a mid-nineteenth-century replacement, its sight edge consisting of a separate, raised, black-painted, flat strip.
Label TextMary Ann Bacon was about eight years old when William Jennys depicted her, her parents, and her brother. (See 1963.100.1, 1963.100.2, and 1963.100.3 for the companion likenesses.) In her attire, the artist captured a nuance of illusion that defied many painters. The translucency of the girl's sheer white overdress is rendered subtlety and convincingly, providing hints of the deep pink layer beneath it. Five pink bows and the youngster's rosy lips reinforce the picture's color scheme and contrast pleasingly with the warm brown of the background and the child's hair.

Mary Ann was the daughter of Asahel Bacon (1764-1838) and Hannah French Bacon (1765-1833) of Roxbury, Connecticut. In 1802, she attended the Litchfield Female Academy run by Sarah Pierce in Litchfield, Connecticut. The journal she kept there offers a fascinating glimpse of girls' education during the period. It also documents the "disagreeable feelings" she initially experienced when separated from home and family. The Litchfield Historical Society owns two watercolors executed by Mary Ann, as well as a profile portrait and a miniature done of her. On November 15, 1815, she married Roxbury farmer Chauncey Whittlesey,

InscribedNone found, but see 1963.100.2.
ProvenanceAll four companion portraits (1963.100.1, 1963.100.2, 1963.100.3, and 1963.100.4) descended in the family of the subject of the fourth portrait, Mary Ann Bacon Wittlesey (Mrs. Chauncey Whittlesey); to Elizabeth Whittlesey Preston (Mrs. Bennett Sheldon Preston); to her son, Edward Whittlesey Preston; to his son, Bennett Preston of Bridgeport, Conn; sold by the preceding to dealer Mary Allis of Fairfield, Conn., who was CWF's source.