1991-1172, Painting DS1998-0090_R.2003-2382

Portrait of Warner Lewis II (1747-1791)

Date1772-1775

Attributed to Charles Willson Peale (1741-1827)

MediumOil on canvas

DimensionsUnframed: 31" x 26" and Framed: 33 7/8" x 28 1/2" x 1 3/4"

Credit LinePartial gift of Miss Alice Dulany Ball, Mr. Francis Mallory Ball, and Mrs. Emma Matilda Ball Papp

Object number1991-1172,A&B

DescriptionA half-length portrait of a man seated sideways in a carved, slat-back side chair, his body in three-quarter view, turned towards the viewer's right, his proper left arm resting on the crest of the chair, his proper right hand thrust into his waistcoat. His head is tilted slightly, eyes to the viewer. He wears a plum-colored suit (coat, waistcoat, and breeches) with a white ruffled shirt. His thin brown hair is pulled back from his face, and he has hazel eyes. The background is a warm 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.
The paired portraits 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 group depicts James Lewis (1753-1788), Warner's brother.

ProvenanceThe painting descended in the family along with two companion portraits (acc. nos. 1991-1171 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.