Materials/Media:oil on fabric in dull gold molded frame recessed away from portrait
Date Documented:May 14, 2007
Condition:Excellent
Description:A hip-length seated portrait of the subject enveloped in a fur coat. The soft taupe fur collar and cuffs on a voluminous black fur or velvet coat compose a pyramid with the head as its apex. Background is entirely a somewhat mottled taupe. The head is slightly turned to the left and is atop a long and graceful neck, surrounded by the fur open to a white low bodice. One hand rests across the other which hold a small light purse. The face with highlighted forehead and long nose is slightly colored with rosy cheeks and mouth and surrounded by wavy brown hair parted at the high right side of forehead. The hair has dull gold highlights, and highlights on the fur add to the appearance of softness.
History:This portrait, for a long time in the possession of the subject in Richmond, Virginia, then of her sister, Elizabeth Marshall Cole Gayle, then of her niece, Elizabeth Marsall Gayle Rouse, is currently owned by another niece. The present owner found it in poor condition, and it has been restored by Cumberland Art Conservation in Nashville. The portrait was pictured in the October 11, 1926 issue of LaRevue Moderne des Arts et de La Vie, published in Paris, as part of a lead article about the artist, some of whose work had been exhibited at the previous Salon.
Notes:The subject was born April 2, 1893, in North Carolina, youngest daughter of the Rev. John Nelson Cole and his wife Elizabeth Marshall Jones Cole. She and her mother, then a widow, moved to Richmond, VA, probably before 1920. She married in 1933 and died in Richmond in 1938, never having had children.
