Portrait of Alice Littlepage Taylor Ingram (Mrs. Sylvanus Ingram)(1801-1890) and Mary Ingram [later, Mrs. James H. Marable](ca. 1825-after 1880)

Date1826-1828 (probably)

Possibly by James McGibbon (d. 1836)

OriginAmerica, Virginia, Lunenburg County

MediumOil on canvas

DimensionsUnframed: 36 5/16 x 26 7/8in. (92.2 x 68.3cm) and Framed: 42 3/8 x 34 1/8in.

Credit LineGift of Mr. and Mrs. Thomas M. Miller

Object number1984.100.1

DescriptionA double portrait of a woman and a child on a green sofa, with part of a column visible at the far left and, behind the figures, a vague, wooded, outdoor setting with the moon shown in the sky to the (viewer's) right of the column. The brown-eyed woman is youngish and wears a large tortoiseshell comb in her long, dark brown hair, which is parted in the middle, curled around her face, and hangs in loose ringlets at the back. A gold, drop earring hangs from her visible ear. She wears a white, empire-waisted dress having short puffed sleeves and trimmed with sheer, white, dotted ruffles (single ruffles on the sleeves and double ones at the neckline and bodice); a pink ribbon circles her high waistline. Her proper right arm rests on the crest rail of the upholstered sofa, half-encircling the child. The blue-eyed, blonde child wears a pink dress with rows of tucks at the hemline; its neckline is trimmed with a sheer, white, dotted ruffle. White stockings and red shoes tied with yellow ribbons complete the ensemble. In front of him/her, the child holds a miniature, painted, oval-shaped mourning picture enclosed in a gold-colored case rimmed with a double row of beading and suspended from a green ribbon. The child and the woman both hold the ribbon. Brass tacks improbably outline the crest rail and arm of the Empire-style sofa.

Artist unidentified.

The 4-inch gilded, splayed, yellow pine frame may be original; it incorporates a half-round molding on the outer edge of the stepped liner.

Label TextThe subjects of this double portrait were doubly connected, the child being both a niece and stepdaughter of the adult. Alice Littlepage Taylor (1801-1890) was the third wife of Sylvanus Ingram (1776-1846), whom she married in 1826. His second wife had been Alice's sister, Frances Hinton Taylor Ingram, who died not long after the birth of her daughter, Mary, the little girl shown standing on the sofa. Alice was a daughter of the Rev. [Daniel?] Taylor and his wife, Elizabeth Hinton Taylor.

Mary prominently displays a mourning locket, thus presumably memorializing her mother's death, while Alice's hand on its green, supporting ribbon suggests that she shares the grief.

ProvenanceThe early provenance was speculated from the later line of descent, which was provided by CWF's donor: From the adult subject to her son, Sylvanus Littlepage Ingram (1832-1891); to his son, Lawrence Ingram (1865-?); to his daughter, Alice Littlepage Ingram (1919-1982); to her sister, Mrs. Willis Dance Miller (Eliza Brodnax Ingram); to her son, Thomas M. Miller, CWF's donor.

Exhibition(s)