Attributed to Thomas Sully (1783-1872) Portrait of Mary Sophia Carroll (Bayard) of Baltimore, 1822.

Description:

Attributed to Thomas Sully (1783-1872)

Portrait of Mary Sophia Carroll (Bayard) of Baltimore, 1822. Unsigned. Oil on canvas, the bust portrait is inscribed on the reverse, "Mrs. Bayard, Daughter of Charles Carroll of Homewood...Portrait by Thomas Sully," according to Biddle and Fielding's transcription of Sully's Register, no. 83, 31 x 26 in., in original giltwood frame. Condition: Minor restoration.

Provenance: Mary Sophia's father Charles Carroll was the son of Charles Carroll of Carrollton, a signer of the Declaration of Independence. Her mother was Harriet Chew Carroll, daughter of Chief Justice Samuel Chew of Philadelphia. Mary Sophia married Richard Henry Bayard in 1820. He was a distinguished lawyer in Maryland, mayor of Wilmington, Delaware, his birthplace, and from 1840 to 1845, he was in the United States Senate. In between his terms as senator, he served as Chief Justice of Delaware. Subsequently, he became charge d'affairs to Belgium from 1850 to 1853.

Direct descent to the consignor as follows: Oswald Jackson, son of Isaac Rand and Louisa Catherine Carroll, who married Ella M. Willing. Their daughter Louisa Carroll Jackson married John Metcalfe Thomas of New York City in 1899. Their son Charles Carroll Thomas married Miriam Smith of New Haven in 1926. Their children Elizabeth Thomas Sweitzer, Charles Carroll Thomas, Jr., and Cathleen Brooke Thomas to Louisa Carroll Jackson Thomas to the consignor.

Exhibitions: "Anywhere So Long as There be Freedom: Charles Carroll of Carrollton, His Family & His Maryland," 1975. This catalogued exhibit was held at the Baltimore Museum of Art, co-sponsored by the Maryland Historical Society and the Peale Museum of Baltimore. This lot was in that exhibit. The companion portrait to Maria's, that of her husband, Richard H. Bayard, was begun by Sully at the same time, May 15, 1822. His, which was finished in July of that year is currently in the collections of the Baltimore Museum of Art.

Note: Thomas Sully was born in England, but he began his professional career as a portrait painter in 1801 in this country. In 1806 he moved to New York City, where he received instructions from artists Trumbull and Jarvis. He was also instructed by Gilbert Stuart in Boston. By 1810 he settled in Philadelphia, where he painted many of his finest portraits. In addition to his 2000 portraits, he painted some historical subjects including the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, example of Washington Crossing the Delaware. In 1921 Edward Biddle and Mantle Fielding published The Life and Work of Thomas Sully, which lists this portrait.
Estimate $18,000-25,000

Relined, retouch to several areas around edges, 1 1/4 in. line at u.c., spots on a 1 1/2 in. dia. area on column to rt. of her head, some retouch on her eyelids and iris areas, lips, and possibly hair.

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