Description:Seated woman facing three quarter left and looking back over her right shoulder. Her blue dress is off-the-shoulder and the bodice and sleeve overlay is decorated with white daisies. Her hands are holding a handerchief, and her light brown hair is pulled back and caught at the nape of her neck. She is wearing dark pink earrings and a doubled string of pink beads. She is looking to the viewer's left.
History:Oil portrait on stretched canvas, cotton duck. Pearl Routon, portrait painter from Paris, TN, studied art at Peabody College in Nashville. She painted the portraits of several governors of the state of TN, including Gov. Frank G. Clement, who conferred on her the title of Honorary Colonel on his staff. She is credited with being the person who selected the iris to be the State Flower. Her husband was a State Senator, and, in 1957, she was featured on Ralph Edwards' "This Is Your Life."
Notes:The subject, Val Rucker Routon (born 1917), is a member of the Colonial Dames XVII Century and the Daughters of the American Revolution. She is the daughter-in-law of the artist, Pearl Routon.
