Portrait of Sarah Battaile Fitzhugh Edmonds (Mrs. Elias Edmonds)(1785-1878)

Date1808

Artist William Joseph Aldridge (1751 - after 1813)

OriginAmerica, Virginia, Fauquier County

MediumPastel on paper (see "Notes" regarding whether the primary support is laid or wove)

DimensionsPrimary support: 22 3/4 x 18 9/16in. (57.8 x 47.2cm) and Framed (in 1991 frame): 26 3/8 x 21 7/8 x 1 5/8in. (67 x 55.6 x 4.1cm)

Credit LineMuseum Purchase

Object number1988.200.1

DescriptionA bust-length portrait of a young woman turned slightly towards the viewer's right. She wears a high-waisted blue plaid dress tied with a light-colored cord below the bustline; dimensional, acorn-shaped buttons fasten the overlapping dress. The dress also has a white lace collar and sleeves, the latter drawn up over the upper arm. Four tortoiseshell combs hold the woman's medium brown hair, with corkscrew curls framing her face. A mourning brooch is worn slightly askew at her neckline. The background is uniformly dark blue or black. Her eyes are dark brown.

The frame currently (11-9-2012) on the portrait is a modern reproduction one made for it in 1991; it is a 2-inch gilded, flat frame with a quarter round outer edge, acc. no. 1988.200.1,C.

The above frame (1988.200.1,C) replaced frame 1988.200.1,B, which was received on the portrait but which was removed for the sake of the pastel's preservation; the 2-inch gilded cyma recta modern replacement frame (1988.200.1,B) is now stored on the Palace 3rd floor.
Label TextWilliam Joseph Aldridge is known for a small number of striking portraits of Virginians, including this subject's husband, Captain Elias Edmonds (1768-1811). The artist also depicted Elias's parents, Col. William Edmonds (1734-1816) and Elizabeth Blackwell Edmonds (1741-1817); see acc. no. 2007.200.1.

After the death of his first wife, Captain Edmonds married, on August 24, 1807, Sarah Battaile Fitzhugh (1785-1878), the daughter of William Fitzhugh (d. 1817) and his second wife, Sarah Digges of "Bellfield," York County, Virginia.

Elias and Sarah Edmunds had two daughters and lived at "Mt. Airy" in Fauquier County. Aldridge executed their companion portraits there in February of 1808, according to the inscriptions on the backboards of their likenesses. For his portrait, see acc. no. 1991.200.1.

Sarah Edmonds's reason for wearing a mourning brooch in her 1808 portrait is unclear. Her husband was alive at that date, and their only two children were not born until later. She may still be grieving the death of her mother, Sarah Digges Fitzhugh, who had died in 1806.

InscribedIn ink in script on the two yellow pine backboards is "Sarah Battaile Edmonds Mt Airy/This was taken by Wm Oldridge/February 1808".
After conservation of the portrait, the backboards were returned to the back of the present framing; in terms of acid transfer, they are isolated from the primary support.
ProvenanceThe following line of descent was supplied by Ann Carter Gardner (Mrs. W. S. Gardner) of Martinsville, Virginia, a granddaughter of Ann Harrison Wise (Mrs. Henry A. Wise), whose estate included the portrait sold by Ken Farmer Auctions 10/22/1988. See the file photocopy of Mrs. Gardner's handwritten document:

From the subject to her daughter, Elizabeth Elias Edmonds Parrott (Mrs. John Henry Parrott, Jr.)(1811-?) of Roanoke, Va.; to her granddaughter, Ann Harrison Wise (Mrs. Henry A. Wise)(?-?); to her daughter, Ann Carter Gardner (Mrs. W. S. Gardner).