American: Artist Unknown

Postmortem* Portrait of Miss Frances Spencer (1822-1843),
Daughter of Edwin Spencer, Executive of the
Connecticut River Banking Co., Hartford, Connecticut

American
circa 1843
Artist unknown

2 3/8 x 3 inches (sight)

watercolor on ivory; housed under glass in a later wooden
frame with a carved foliate design and a gilded ormolu mat

*It is the unfinished, lightly modeled nature of this portrait that leads one to conclude that it was likely painted post mortem. A handwritten note to the reverse reads, "Frances Spencer / Died at / Hartford April 1844 / Aged 22 yrs". Research has revealed errors in the note, however, which was likely written by a family member years after the portrait was painted. To wit, both Connecticut vital statistics and a newspaper obituary reveal that Frances died on April 23, 1843, at the age of 21. She is buried at Hartford's Old North Cemetery; and her grave marker reads, "FRANCES SPENCER / Died April 23, 1843 / Aged 21 years".

Frances Spencer's newspaper obituary, as appeared in the "Hartford Daily Courant",
Tuesday, April 25, 1843 edition, Vol. 7, No. 97, Whole No. 1725, page 2.