Attributed to Thomas Sully (1783-1872) Portrait of Actress Fanny Kemble (1809-1893) as Beatrice

Oil on canvas, bears printed paper label of McClees Galleries, Philadelphia on stretcher, framed and glazed.

19 1/2 in. x 23 1/2 in. (sight)

Note

The British actress, Frances Anne "Fanny" Kemble was a friend and favorite subject of Thomas Sully. The artist painted her thirteen times. Sully's first portrait of Kemble in the role of Beatrice from Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing was completed in 1833 and is now in the collection of the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts. Sully is recorded to have painted three later versions of this portrait.

Provenance

By descent in the Scott-Wheeler family.

This portrait was probably purchased by Mrs.Thomas Alexander Scott (1839-1901). Anna Dike Riddle Scott, an avid traveler and collector of fine and decorative art, was often advised in her purchases by cousin and artist, Mary Cassatt. Scott became one of the earliest Americans to collect works of Impressionism. Born in Pittsburgh to a wealthy family, Anna married industrialist and railroad executive, Thomas A. Scott (1823-1881) in 1861. Scott served as assistant U.S. Secretary of War during the Civil War and from 1874-1880 served as the fourth president of the Pennsylvania Railroad.