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D2011-CMD. Portrait
Portrait of Frederick William Southgate (1813-1853), Mary Ann Southgate (1815-after 1861), and Emily Jane Southgate (1817-before 1861)
D2011-CMD. Portrait

Portrait of Frederick William Southgate (1813-1853), Mary Ann Southgate (1815-after 1861), and Emily Jane Southgate (1817-before 1861)

Date1820
Artist John James Crawley (1784-1844)
OriginAmerica, Virginia, Norfolk
MediumOil on canvas
DimensionsUnframed: 54 1/4 x 39 1/4in. (137.8 x 99.7cm) and Framed: 61 x 46 x 3 1/2in.
Credit LineMuseum Purchase
Object number2005-100,A
DescriptionFull-length portrait of three children, the two older ones (a boy and a girl) shown standing, the girl with her proper right arm around the boy's shoulders, he with a book in his proper right hand. He wears a dark green suit with a white ruffled collar and three rows of gold buttons down the chest; she wears a white, short-sleeved, empire-waisted dress and, with her proper left hand, gestures vaguely toward the child seated on a low, turned-leg stool in front of them. The seated child (thought to be a girl) wears a short-sleeved white dress that wraps in the front over white pantaloons, also red shoes, and holds one of the front paws of a small brown and white spaniel or terrier who stands on his hind legs beside her. A column fills the left side of the composition, a sunset landscape with distant mountain fills the rest. The foreground is defined by plaid carpeting.
The painting was acquired in 2005 without a frame. Its original 4-inch gilded, scoop-molded frame with molded and applied bellflower, acanthus leaf, and lambs-tongue decorations was later located, conserved, and reunited with the picture 6/27/2008. It is accessioned as 2005-100,B. See the reports in the object file.
Label TextThe father of the subjects, John Southgate (1773-1861), emigrated from England in 1794. By 1820, he had settled in Norfolk, Virginia, where he lived the remainder of his life; he was a coffee merchant of considerable wealth (his property being valued at $61,000 in 1850). In 1810, he married Frances P. McCausland (ca. 1789-1834) in Baltimore, Maryland.

One child (John Miller Southgate, born before December 7, 1799) was apparently born of an earlier, undocumented marriage. The five children born to John and Frances McCausland Southgate were George Prestman (30 November 1811-?), Frederick William (1813-1853), Mary Ann (1815-after 1861), Emily Jane (1817-before 1861), and Mathew Consett (16 August 1827-1827). The portrait shows the middle three children.

George's initials on the base of the column suggest that the picture partly functioned as a memorial to him; if so, he must have died by 1820 when the painting was executed. Frederick attended the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg during 1828-1832.
InscribedOn the base of the column, in black paint in script, is, "G. P. S." On the plinth supporting the column, in black paint in script, is "Jno Crawley pinxit 1820".
ProvenancePapers pertinent to the painting passed along by successive owners indicate that, in November 1972, Robert V. Davison of Alexandria, Va., bought the painting from Gene Shaw (Shaw's Antiques, 308 Main St., Reisterstown, Md. 21136, tel. 301-833-7274). Presumably it was Davison who sold the painting at auction (Northeast, April 3, 2005, lot no. 1496), where it was purchased by CWF's source, Marshall Goodman.
Exhibition(s)