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Portrait 2011-56
Portrait of Margaret Ritter Beale (Mrs. John E. Beale, Jr.) (?-bef. 1841)
Portrait 2011-56

Portrait of Margaret Ritter Beale (Mrs. John E. Beale, Jr.) (?-bef. 1841)

Date1811-1812
Artist Cephas Thompson (1775-1856)
OriginAmerica, Virginia, Norfolk
MediumOil on canvas, framed
DimensionsFramed: 36 5/8 x 31 5/8in.; Other: 76.5 x 64cm (30 1/8 x 25 3/16in.)
Credit LineMuseum Purchase, The Friends of Colonial Williamsburg Collections Fund
Object number2011-56,A&B
DescriptionThe 3 1/2-inch gilded frame is believed original. The outer cove molding is ornamented with laurel wreaths alternating with fleur-de-lis. A smaller cove follows, with a primarily flat sight edge ornamented at the outside with a repetitive egg-and-dart design. N. B. The same style frame appears on 1931.100.23, 1997-118, and 2011-57 (and is believed original to the last two of these, which are also Cephas Thompson portraits).
ProvenanceDescended in the family with acc. no. 2011-57. Probably from John Eustace Beale, Jr. (1773-1841) to his son Charles H. Beale (1815-1855), probably to his son Charles Douglas Beale (1852-), to his son Frank Douglas Beale (1899-1963), to his daughter Elizabeth Beale Glass who sold it through The Cobbs Auctioneers LLC where it was acquired by CWF