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Portrait of Abigail Stevens Bartlett (Mrs. Levi Bartlett)(1774-1840)
No image number on slide

Portrait of Abigail Stevens Bartlett (Mrs. Levi Bartlett)(1774-1840)

Date1821
Artist John Brewster, Jr. (1766 - 1854)
OriginAmerica, New Hampshire, Kingston
MediumOil on canvas, framed
DimensionsUnframed: 30 1/4 x 25in. (76.8 x 63.5cm) and Framed: 32 x 27in.
Credit LineGift of Mr. & Mrs. Irvin G. Schorsch, Jr.
Object number1981.100.2
DescriptionA half-length portrait of a woman turned slightly to the right. Her arms are folded across her waist, but only the proper right hand is visible. She wears a dark blue, high-waisted dress with long sleeves gathered at the shoulder, self-ruffled cuffs, and a sheer white ruffled collar. The dress yoke is made with a diagonal fold or seam over the bodice. She wears a sheer white dotted cap tied under the chin and double-ruffled at top and face edges. She has pale brown eyes. The planes of her face are exceptionally sculpturally delineated. She has a dark brown birthmark (?) on the proper right side of her neck. The background is a warm brown with backlighting surrounding the lower head, neck, and shoulders.
The lower and right (from reverse) stretchers have been microscopically analyzed as one of the white pine group, probably eastern white pine (Pinus strobus).
The original 1-inch cove molded gilded frame has two brass hanging rings at top. The top frame member has been microscopically analyzed as yellow poplar (Liriodendron tulipifera).
Label TextThe tides of taste turned from full- and three-quarter-length portraits to half- and bust-length ones during the early years of the nineteenth century. About 1805, John Brewster, Jr., began replacing the older format with the simpler, more abbreviated one illustrated here.

On April 18, 1807, Abigail Stevens became the second wife of Levi Bartlett (1763-1828), whose portrait is in the collection as acc. no. 1981.100.1. He was the son of Josiah Bartlett, a physician and the first Governor of New Hampshire as well as a signer of the Declaration of Independence. Levi succeeded his father in the practice of medicine, as did his own son, Levi S. (1811-1865), after him. Levi, Sr., and Abigail S. Bartlett also had two daughters: Louella Juliette Bartlett (1807-1857) and Junia Loretta Bartlett (1810-1849). As last noted, these three children's portraits were in private collections.

Brewster portrayed at least five Bartlett family members in 1821, and he left all of these pictures unvarnished. Although most painters applied varnish as a final protective coating, some artists and clients preferred the dry, matte appearance and somewhat higher (less reflective) visibility of an uncoated surface.
InscribedIn pencil in script across the upper stretcher is: "John Brewster Jr pinxt June 19th 1821".

In pencil in script of possibly late 19th century origin on the lower stretcher is: "Mrs. Abigail Bartlett/wife of Hon Levi Bartlett."
In ink in Nina Fletcher Little's hand on a modern label on the lower portion of the right stretcher is: "Abigail (Stevens)/Bartlett/Kingston/New Hampshire/1821". Typed on another modern label on the top frame member is: "Please do not remove old rings." A red painted accession no. ("75.46.2") appears on the top stretcher.

In ink in script in an unidentified hand on a modern label on the upper portion of th left stretcher is: "signed on stretcher/top 'John Brewster/Jr pinxt June/19th 1821'".
ProvenanceThis portrait and its companion, 1981.100.1, descended to a great-granddaughter of the subjects, Mrs. Lottie M. Goodrich (nee Bartlett) of Epping, NH, along with Brewster's portraits of two of the subjects' children, Junia Loretta Bartlett (1810-1849) and Levi Stevens Bartlett (1811-1865). The four paintings were then split up. From Goodrich, James Wilcoxen of Henniker, NH, purchased the two adults' portraits, i.e., 1981.100.1 and 1981.100.2. From Wilcoxen to Mary Allis of Southport, Conn.; in 1959, to Nina Fletcher Little of Brookline, Mass.; in 1975, to Roger Bacon of Exeter, NH [Nina Fletcher Little to B. Luck, 1/4/1982]. As of 5/30/2006, it is not known whether CWF's donors, M/M Irvin G. Schorsch, Jr., purchased the pair directly from Roger Bacon.