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1991-1171, Painting (DS1996-0409)
Portrait of Mary Chiswell Lewis (Mrs. Warner Lewis II, 1748?-1776)
1991-1171, Painting (DS1996-0409)

Portrait of Mary Chiswell Lewis (Mrs. Warner Lewis II, 1748?-1776)

Date1772-1775
Artist Charles Willson Peale (1741-1827)
OriginAmerica, Virginia
MediumOil on canvas
DimensionsUnframed: 31" x 26" (78.7 cm. x 66.0 cm.) and Framed: 33 5/8" x 28 5/8" x 1 5/8"
Credit LinePartial gift of Miss Alice Dulany Ball, Mr. Francis Mallory Ball, and Mrs. Emma Matilda Ball Papp
Object number1991-1171,A&B
DescriptionA half-length portrait of a woman seated in a square-backed, upholstered chair, the top edge rimmed with brass tacks. Her proper left elbow rests on the edge of a small table beside her. Her head is tilted slightly. She has hazel eyes. Her brown hair is twined with a string of pearls atop her head. She wears a narrow, black, pique ribbon knotted tightly around her neck with the ends hanging down and tucked into the bodice of her dress. Her dress (an imaginative wrap, rather than actual attire) is blue-gray, its V-cut neckline exposing the ruffle of her shift; the sheer white sleeves of her shift are gathered and held in place at the elbows with triple-strand pearl clasps on the dress's bell-shaped sleeves. The dress is loosely fastened vertically down the front with diamond-shaped red jewels. A gold-striped sheer white length of fabric is secured at the center of her bodice with pearls, draped asymmetrically around her with the free end passing over her proper left shoulder, behind her back, and over her proper right elbow. The background is a chocolate brown.
The 1 1/2-inch gilded cyma recta frame has gadrooning along the outer edge and beading along the sight edge and is believed to be original.
Label TextThis portrait was acquired with two others of the Lewis family, all of them having sustained fire damage while still in private hands. Nevertheless, most critical passages of the paintings survived the blaze, and skillful conservation treatment has restored a fair sense of the deft hand of Charles Willson Peale. Peale returned from studying painting in London in 1769. Commissions undertaken during his stay in Virginia in the 1770s thus occurred relatively early in his long career.

This portrait and its companion are believed to represent Mary Chiswell Lewis (1748?-1776) and her husband, Warner Lewis II (1747-1791), of Warner Hall plantation in Gloucester County, Virginia. The third portrait in the trio depicts James Lewis (1753-1788), Warner's brother. Mary was the daughter of Col. John and Elizabeth Randolph Chiswell of Hanover County, Virginia. Before her early death, she and Warner Lewis II had four children: Warner III, John, Elizabeth, and Eleanor.

InscribedSigned by the artist on the lower left of canvas, "C. WPeale/ p[in]xt"
ProvenanceThe painting descended in the family along with two companion portraits (acc. nos. 1991-1172 and 1991-1173). The three are thought to have gone from James Lewis (1753-1788), brother of Warner Lewis II; to his daughter, Mrs. Samuel Stuart Griffin (Sarah Lewis)(1787-1846); to her daughter, Mrs. Stephen Orrin Wright (Mary Louisa Griffin)(1817-?); to her daughter, Mrs. Mottram Dulany Ball (Sallie Lewis Wright)(1838-1923); to her daughter, Sallie Lewis Ball (1866-1944)(d. unmarried); to her sister, Mrs. Henry Clinton Mackall (Caroline Clinton Ball)(1869-1949); to her nephew and two nieces, Francis Mallory Ball, Jr. (1907-?), Miss Alice Dulany Ball (1913-?), and Mrs. Arthur Papp (Emma Matilda Ball)(1919-?), who were CWF's source.