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Mrs. William Ware (Mary Waterhouse)
James Frothingham (American, 1786–1864)
about 1823
Medium/Technique
Oil on panel
Dimensions
66.04 x 52.7 cm (26 x 20 3/4 in.)
Credit Line
Gift of Malcolm C. Ware
Accession Number1977.828
CollectionsAmericas
ClassificationsPaintings
Gilbert Stuart said of Frothingham: "Except myself, there is no man in the United States [who] can paint a better head." Although largely self-taught, Frothingham absorbed much of Stuart's approach, as seen in the loose brushwork and luminous color of this image. Mary Waterhouse married Reverend William Ware in 1823, and this may be a marriage portrait.
ProvenanceThe artist; to Mr. and Mrs. William Ware (the sitter and her husband); to Henry Ware, their son; to Mary Elizabeth Ware Thayer, his daughter; to Mrs. Margaret Thayer Lancaster, her daughter; to Malcolm C. Ware; to MFA, 1977, gift of Malcolm C. Ware.