Collections record Beta

Oil Painting - Jane Seymour Beckwith (1811-1868) and daughter Elizabeth Gale Beckwith (1835-1896)

2003-54-2

Oil on canvas. Jane Beckwith is seated wearing a dark blue dress with a white lace collar. She holds an partially opened book in her left hand. She has brown hair, parted down the middle that hangs to her ears before being pulled behind her head. Her daughter Sarah stands to her right side. Jane has her hand on her daughters shoulder. Sarah wears a blue dress, almost identical in style to the one her mother wears. She has brown curly hair. There is a heavy red curtain behind them on the right side of the canvas.

Likely completed by H. R. Snyder, the artist who painted Josiah Beckwith and his son (2003-54-1). This portrait has strong similarities to other pieces by Snyder, and was likely completed as a companion piece to the signed Beckwith portrait. The portrait was originally believed to be of Jane Beckwith and her younger daughter, Sarah Hunt Beckwith (1845-1928), although there was discrepancy in the accession record between Elizabeth and Sarah. Given that the companion portrait was painted before Sarah's birth, and that this portrait depicts a girl of at least 9 or 10 years old, it is much more likely to be Elizabeth.

Jane Seymour Beckwith attended the Litchfield Female Academy from 1824 to 1828.

• Snyder, H. R.

c.1843

55" long x 45 3/4" wide

• canvas
• oil