Portrait of Salumith Wadsworth Weston (Mrs. Ezra Weston, Sr.)(1742-1815)

DateProbably 1793

Attributed to Rufus Hathaway (1770-1822)

MediumOil on canvas

DimensionsUnframed: 38 x 25 3/4in. (96.5 x 65.4cm) and Framed: 43 3/4 x 31 1/4in.

Credit LineMuseum Purchase

Object number1971.100.3

DescriptionA half-length portrait of a seated, older woman with blue-gray eyes turned one quarter towards the viewer's left. She wears a choker of beads, a brown dress with a white kerchief covering the bodice, and a large white ruffled bonnet. She sits in an upholstered side chair trimmed with brass tacks. Her arms are laid cross-wise in her lap, a rose bloom held in her proper left hand. The background is a warm dark brown.

The 3-inch molded white pine frame, painted black, with gold inner and outer borders, is original.Label TextSalumith Wadsworth was born in Duxbury, Mass. on March 10, 1742, the daughter of John and Mary Alden Wadsworth. She married Ezra Weston on October 25, 1770, and their only child, Ezra Weston, Jr., was born on November 30, 1771. Salumith died on July 20, 1815, and is buried in the Weston family lot in Duxbury's Mayflower cemetery.Inscription(s)Painted on the reverse of the original canvas ca. 1845, i.e., at the time a duplicate painting of her husband was made, is: "Salumith Wadsworth/ daughter of Doctr John-wife of/Ezra Weston/ Born/Died."ProvenanceDescended as part of a group from Ezra Weston, Jr., of Duxbury, Mass., probably to son Hon. Gershom Bradford Weston, probably to son Capt. Gershom Weston, to daughter Judith Sprague Weston Kendal, to daughter Mrs. Margaret S Kendal Carter of Waltham, Mass.; purchased by Mr. and Mrs. Howard Lipman, New York, N.Y., 1948; in possession of Miss Mary Allis, Southport, Conn. by 1949