Portrait of Susannah Tripp (b. 1775)

DateProbably 1836

Attributed to Aruba ("Ruby") Brownell Devol Finch (Mrs. William Finch)(1804-1866)

OriginAmerica, Massachusetts, Westport Point area

MediumWatercolor, gouache, pencil, and ink on wove paper.

DimensionsPrimary support: 8 1/4" x 6 1/4" and Framed: 9 11/16" X 7 9/16"

Credit LineMuseum Purchase

Object number1966.300.2

DescriptionA half-length profile portrait of a woman turned to the left, her image appearing above verses hand-written beside a picture of a tree and yellow drapery forming a visual frame for the portrait in the upper half of the work. The woman wears a white cap and fichu and a brown dress.
Original 1-inch molded gilt frame.Label TextIn 1836 Ruby Devol Finch painted a memorial portrait for shipbuilder Tillinghast Tripp, who died that year. This companion portrait of his widow, Susannah, was presumably completed at the same time.
Recorded works by Finch date from 1830 to 1843 and include two versions of the story of the prodigal son and seven watercolor portraits of friends and neighbors in the Westport/Westport Point area of Massachusetts.Inscription(s)Handwritten in script in brown ink below the portrait is "Of late I,ve met with a great loss,/A pardner and a friend,/No one is left but children dear/On whom I can depend/Many the years we had lived in peace,/Although in natures paths we trod/Yet previous to his death I trust/Were redeemed by Christs own blood/Portrait of Susannah Tripp Born April 18/1775 Joined in marriage Jan,, 21 1798."Mark(s)No watermark found Provenance"An heir of . . . [the Robinson] family" [note 1]; Mrs. Sydney B. Johnson, Westport Point, Mass.