Portrait of Margaret Frances Osborne Robertson (Mrs. Charles Henry Robertson)(1812-1846)
Date1825-1830, probably
MediumOil on tulip poplar panel
DimensionsOther (Unframed): 29 7/8 x 25in. (75.9 x 63.5cm)
Framed: 37 1/2 x 31 3/4 x 2 5/8in.
Credit LineGift of the Boswell family in memory of the subject's great-great-grandson, John Iverson Boswell
Object number2012.100.3,A&B
DescriptionA half-length portrait of a youngish woman shown seated on a late classical sofa, her proper right arm resting on the right arm of the sofa whose black upholstery is held in place by brass tacks. Her body and head are turned only slightly towards the viewer's left. Her eyes are on the viewer. In her proper left hand, she holds a red book with her thumb inserted among the pages. Her proper left arm is raised to waist height, and she extends the book toward her proper right hand, holding the book seemingly to facilitate the viewer's reading of the three initials on the cover, which are oriented to read parallel to the long edge of the book. She wears a white ruffled cap that is tied under her chin with sheer white ribbons ornamented with dashes of light blue. She wears a dark burgundy, long-sleeved dress whose capelet is covered with a wide, sheer, white embroidered collar. The sleeves of the dress are puffed over the elbows. She wears a key dangling from a [chain?] around her neck. Her dark brown hair is parted in the center and pulled back away from her face, most of it covered by her cap. She appears to pose near a window well. A view through a window is partially visible at the viewer's far right, while interior wood paneling forms most of the backdrop for the figure.A new bevel style frame in yellow poplar was made in 2016. It consists of three moldings nailed together with the outer two painted in black-pigmented shellac paint and the inner course oil gilded with 22 carat gold leaf.
Label TextLifelong friends, Charles Robertson and Margaret “Peggy” Osborne grew up on adjoining properties in the Virginia Piedmont. Their portratis were painted about the time of their 1828 marriage and later hung at Pineland, their 2,000-acre plantation in Charlotte County.
Peggy reportedly urged Charles to re-marry in the event of her death. She felt that her friend, Dora Judd, tutor on a neighboring estate, would be a good wife for Charles and a suitable step-mother for her seven children. In 1849, three years after Peggy’s death, Charles complied.
Charles’s full-frontal pose is unusual in an oil portrait of an adult, and both faces are exceptionally stylized, with a strong linear quality. The overlarge window and minutely detailed woodwork in the background of each portrait are equally uncommon. No other paintings by this unidentified artist are presently known, and it is quite likely that he or she was self-trained.
InscribedPainted in yellow block letters on the cover of the book in the sitter's hand is "M. F. R."
On the back of the top frame member in white chalk in forward-slanting hand-printed lettering is "R I Boswell Feb 65."
On the back of the lower frame member in graphite in script is "3455-11/C[ost?]/35.00."
ProvenanceFrom the sitter to her daughter, Mary Lucinda Robertson Boswell (Mrs. John Iverson Boswell)(1833-1921); to her son, Charles Meigs Boswell (1856-1927); to his wife, Etta Lee Elam Boswell (Mrs. Charles Meigs Boswell)(1871-ca. 1963); to her son, Robert Iverson Boswell; about 1991, to his nephew, John Iverson Boswell (1936-2009).
Exhibition(s)
ca. 1855
Probably 1827-1830
ca. 1820
ca 1840