Thomas Waterman Wood

(American, 1823-1903)

My Sister-in-Law

, 1857

oil on canvas

17 ¾ x 13 ¾ inches.

Property from the Collection of Noel and Kathryn Dickinson Wadsworth, Atlanta, Georgia

This lot is included in the forthcoming catalogue raisonné of the works of Thomas Waterman Wood being prepared by Paul Worman for the T.W. Wood Art Gallery in Montpelier, Vermont.

Provenance:

William H. Brune, Baltimore, Maryland, 1857

Fred D. Bentley Sr., Marietta, Georgia, by 1993

Acquired by the present owners by 2004

Exhibited:

Auburn, Alabama, Aubun University, The Jule Collins Smith Museum of Fine Art, Auburn Collects: The Noel and Kathryn Dickinson Wadsworth Collection, March 13 - May 21, 2004, pl. 5, p. 19, illus.

The sitter is Mrs. Catherine Norton Nicholas Brune (1830-1894), the wife of William H. Brune, a wealthy Baltimore merchant who was the brother of John Christian Brune, Thomas Waterman Woods' chief patron in Baltimore. It is very typical of the small scale portraits done by Wood during his Baltimore tenure. William Brune sent payment of $100 to Wood on March 21, 1857 for this and a portrait of John Christian Brune's wife. Wood did many Brune family portraits and it was not unusual for him to do multiple versions for other family members.