Description:Black and white copy of an older woman dressed in a white bonnet with ruffles around her face. The bonnet also has a dark ribbon encircling it. Her cheeks are hollowed and the flesh around her mouth has contracted to suggest that some of her teeth are missing, although this cannot be confirmed. Her right hand, the only one visible, rests across the front of her body, dressed in black.
History:This photograph is the only record of one of a number of paintings stolen from Cleveland Hall, Easter weekend 1986. It was painted when the subject was 84 so the creation date could be established with some research.
Notes:The subject came to Middle Tennessee as a newlywed on the boat Adventure with her husband Capt. John Donelson III (see portrait #758). From the Nashville Whig, December 2, 1848: Mary Purnell Donelson died November 16, 1848 at age 86. She was born May 18, 1763 at Snow Hill, Maryland.
