Portrait of Elizabeth Tabb Patterson Yeatman (Mrs.Thomas Robinson Yeatman)(1796-1868)

Date1814

Attributed to Felix Thomas Sharples (ca. 1786 - after 1824)

MediumPastel on paper, framed

DimensionsPrimary Support: 9 1/16 x 7in. (23 x 17.8cm) and Framed: 13 1/8 x 11 1/8 x 1 11/16in.

Credit LineGift of Mrs. Billie A. Yeatman in memory of her husband, John Patterson Yeatman

Object number2005-49

DescriptionA half-length portrait of a young woman turned 3/4 to the viewer's left, her head turned toward the viewer. She has dark brown hair caught up on top of her head and held in place with a large tortoiseshell comb, with ringlets framing her face. She has medium brown eyesand wears a high-waisted, white, long-sleeved dress with a double ruff of sheer lace trimming the neckline. The background is medium blue at the top shading to taupe and gray.

The 2 3/8-inch frame is original and consists of a cyma recta black-painted molding with a liner (possibly once gilded but now gold painted) bearing an approximation of an egg-and-dart relief design. There is a hanging ring in the center of the top frame member.

Label TextThe subject was the daughter of Col. John Patterson (1760-1824) and his wife, Elizabeth Smith Tabb Patterson (1760-1824). On February 15, 1815, she married Thomas Robinson Yeatman (1789-1832), the son of Thomas Muse Yeatman (1762-1812) and Mary Tompkins Yeatman (1765-1796). Before Thomas's death in 1832, the couple had eleven children, one of them (1817-1892) named John Brown Patterson Yeatman after his deceased uncle (see 2005-48). The Yeatmans lived at Thomas's birthplace, "Isleham," in Gloucester County, Virginia, located on the North River opposite "Toddsbury" (her mother's birthplace).
The Yeatmans, his parents, and three of the Yeatmans' eleven children were buried in the Yeatman plantation cemetery. Tombstone records seem to corroborate the family tradition that Felix Sharples was befriended by the Yeatmans, died at "Isleham," and was buried in their family cemetery. A 1959 publication noted that Sharples's grave there lacked a marker. That same year, the stones in the Yeatman plantation cemetery were removed to the yard of Ware Episcopal Church, near Gloucester Court House, Gloucester County, Virginia. It is not clear whether Sharples actual remains were moved, but a small stone to Sharples's memory was erected at Ware.
After Thomas's death in 1832, Elizabeth married, second, Col. Wade Mosby on 4 June 1834. It is not yet known whether Elizabeth had any children by Mosby.

InscribedA modern freehand inscription on the dust cover 9/22/03 written in graphite reads as follows: "Portrait by James Sharpless/of/Elizabeth Tabb Yeatman/daughter of John Patterson/of/Poplar Grove, Mathews County, Va/Wife of Thomas Robinson Yeatman/of/Isleham, Mathews County/Born-June 20, 1796/Died -October 14, 1868".
Beneath the dust cover, on a cardboard backboard, in black ink is: "Portrait by Mr Sharpless/of/Elizabeth, wife [of] Thomas R Yeatman/& daughter of John Patterson & his wife/Elizabeth Tabb 1814". The date in this inscription was added in much darker, broader strokes that the rest of the writing.
ProvenanceThe line of descent that follows is partially conjectural and perhaps not applicable to all four family portraits that were given to CWF together, i.e., 2005-47-2005-50:
from Thomas Robinson Yeatman (1789-1832) to his son, Albert Allmand Yeatman (1831-1888); to his son, John Patterson Yeatman (1878-1951); to his son, Richard Gallatin Haden Yeatman (1907-1973); in the 1970s, to his son, John Patterson Yeatman (1938-2002); to his wife, Mrs. John Patterson Yeatman (nee, Billie Wyatt); to CWF.