Elizabeth Fulford Welshman

1749

John Greenwood

Associated Names
John Greenwood

Painter, American, 1727 - 1792

The portrait shows the upper body of a woman seated and turned slightly to her left, with her hands delicately holding a string of pearls. She has a composed facial expression with fair skin, rosy cheeks, dark eyes, and dark hair styled in tight curls, framing her face, and partially pinned up with a green decorative piece. She is wearing a deep blue dress with a low-cut neckline and white ruffled trim, accompanied by similarly styled ruffled cuffs on her sleeves. A pink drape is wrapped around her shoulders. In the background, there is a painted landscape depicting a tree with branches extending across the top part of the image on the left and a distant view of a sky transitioning to mountains and sparse foliage on the right.

Media Options

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Artwork overview

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

(Victor Spark, New York, New York); sold 18 December 1948 to Edgar William and Bernice Chrysler Garbisch;[1] gift 1961 to NGA.
[1] Isaac John Greenwood, The Greenwood Family of Norwich, England, and America, Concord, NH, 1934, p. 58, and Alan Burroughs, John Greenwood in America, 1745-1752, Andover, MA, 1943, p. 72 both list the portrait as of Elizabeth Fulford Welsman, but do not give the location or owners' names. The sale in listed in an entry dated 18 December in Spark's 1948 ledger: "John Greenwood-comm [commission] 300-" (Victor Spark Papers, Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.) He confirmed the sale in a letter to William Campbell, 7 May 1971 (NGA curatorial file). The Garbishes later recorded that the painting was found in Maryland; this information probably came from Victor Spark but does not appear in his records.

Associated Names

Exhibition History

1987

  • American Colonial Portraits, 1700-1776, National Portrait Gallery, Washington, 1987-1988, no. 46.

Bibliography

1934

  • Greenwood, Isaac John. The Green Family of Norwich, England, in America. Concord, New Hampshire, 1934: 58.

1943

  • Burroughs, Alan. John Greenwood in America, 1745-1752. Andover, Massachusetts, 1943: 72.

1970

  • American Paintings and Sculpture: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1970: 62, repro., as Mrs. Welshman.

1980

  • American Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1980: 167, repro.

1981

  • Williams, William James. A Heritage of American Paintings from the National Gallery of Art. New York, 1981: 18, repro. 19.

1987

  • Saunders and Miles 1897, 172-173, no. 46, repro.

1992

  • American Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1992: 190, 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: 105-108, color repro. 107.

Inscriptions

center left: J. Greenwood pinx: / 1749.

Wikidata ID

Q20177976

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