1764
unspecified
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art
Anna Dummer Powell is a 1764 unspecified by John Singleton Copley, a American Impressionism work, held at Cleveland Museum of Art.
You see an old woman in a black dress and a white cap, sitting in a red chair. Her hands are folded. Her face looks calm. This portrait was painted two months before Anna Dummer Powell died at 80. Her son wanted a keepsake for the family. The painting stayed with her granddaughters for generations before it went to a museum. Look up other portraits in subject: america, american.
Less than two months before the 80-year-old Powell passed away, one of her sons commissioned this portrait in order to commemorate her life and create an heirloom for future generations. According to the sitter’s granddaughter, Powell was “a little woman of sober conviction and strong Presbyterian faith.” The painting passed through a line of female descendants until shortly before it was given to the museum.
The museum also owns Copley’s original bill of sale for this painting and its frame.
Read the full account in the museum source.
John Singleton Copley (July 3, 1738 – September 9, 1815) was an American-born British painter active in both the Thirteen Colonies and England.
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