Anna Maria Cumpston, c. 1790

Not on View

Medium

oil on canvas

Dimensions

overall: 147 x 95.6 cm (57 7/8 x 37 5/8 in.)

framed: 157.5 x 104.9 x 5 cm (62 x 41 5/16 x 1 15/16 in.)

Credit Line

Gift of Edgar William and Bernice Chrysler Garbisch

Accession Number

1953.5.32

Artists / Makers

Charles Peale Polk (painter) American, 1767 - 1822

Image Use

This image is in the public domain.
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Inscription

center right, on pedestal: C. Polk

Provenance

Probably by descent from the sitter to her daughter, Emily Williams Cooper (Mrs. Colin Campbell Cooper), Philadelphia; probably her son, Colin Campbell Cooper (1856-1937), Philadelphia, or his sister, Emily, or his brothers, Samuel M. and Ned Cooper; (Victor Spark, New York, 1944); sold 1948 to Edgar William and Bernice Chrysler Garbisch;[1] gift 1953 to NGA.

[1] A photograph of the painting in the Edgar Preston Richardson Papers, Archives of American Art, Washington, D.C., is inscribed "Victor Spark 1944." Spark described the previous owners of the painting as the sitter's direct descendants (letter of 4 March 1948, NGA curatorial file). Later he wrote that he bought the painting "in Philadelphia from a family with which Colin Campbell Cooper must have been closely connected as the house was filled with his works. I believe that the family's name was Cooper also." (letter of 18 October 1983, NGA curatorial file). Spark's papers, Archives of American Art, offer no information on the history of this painting. For information on Cooper and his relatives see James M. Hansen, An Exhibition of Paintings by Colin Campbell Cooper (Santa Barbara, 1981), unpaginated and The New York Times 7 November 1937, section 2, 9 (obituary).

Associated Names

Cooper, Colin Campbell
Cooper, Emily
Cooper, Emily Williams
Cooper, Ned
Cooper, Samuel H.
Garbisch, Edgar William, Mr. and Mrs.
Spark, Victor D.

Exhibition History

1968: American Primitive Paintings from the Collection of Edgar William and Bernice Chrysler Garbisch, Columbus Museum of Arts and Crafts, Columbus, Georgia, 1968-1969, no. 10.

1971: Extended loan for use by The Supreme Court of the United States, Washington, D.C., 1971-1981.

1981: Charles Peale Polk: 1767-1822, traveling exh., 1981-1982, 6, no. 10, color repro. (cat. by Linda Crocker Simmons). First venue: Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington.

1989: Extended loan for use by Ambassador Maynard Glitman, U.S. Embassy residence, Brussels, Belgium, 1989-1991.

Bibliography

1968: American Primitive Paintings from the Collection of Edgar William and Bernice Chrysler Garbisch. Exh. cat. Columbus Museum of Arts and Crafts, Columbus, Georgia, 1968-1969: no. 10.

1970: American Paintings and Sculpture: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1970: 90, repro.

1980: American Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1980: 210, repro.

1981: Charles Peale Polk, 1767-1822, A Limner and His Likenesses. Exh. cat. Traveling Exh., 1981-1982: 25-26, no. 10, color repro.

1992: American Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1992: 262, repro.

1995: Miles, Ellen G. American Paintings of the Eighteenth Century. The Collections of the National Gallery of Art Systematic Catalogue. Washington, D.C., 1995: 133-134, color repro. 135.