Physical Dimensions: overall: 76.1 x 63.3 cm (29 15/16 x 24 15/16 in.)
Provenance: Sophia Dwight Foster Burnside [Mrs. Samuel MacGregor Burnside, b. 1787], Worcester, Massachusetts; her daughter, Harriet Pamela Foster Burnside [1827-1903], Worcester, Massachusetts; bequeathed to Roger Sherman Baldwin Foster [1857-1924], New York;[1] his widow, Laura Pugh Moxley Foster Fitch;[2] (Fridenberg Galleries, New York, 1929);[3] (Russell W. Thorpe, Flushing, New York);[4] acquired 1929 by Francis Patrick Garvan [1875-1937], New York;[5] his estate; (M. Knoedler & Co., New York); sold 24 January 1947 to Henry Prather Fletcher [1873-1959], Newport, Rhode Island;[6] bequest 1960 to NGA.
[1] The early provenance is in John Hill Morgan and Mantle Fielding, _The Life Portraits of Washington and their Replicas_, Philadelphia, 1931, 182, no. 6. According to Knoedler, "SOPHIA R.F. BURNSIDE" is written on the reverse of the original canvas; see letter and provenance sheet from Elizabeth Clare, M. Knoedler & Co., 17 March 1960 (NGA curatorial file). Harriet Burnside left most of her estate to the children of her cousin Dwight Foster, among them Roger Foster; will, dated 10 July 1899, copy in NGA curatorial file. On the Fosters see Frederick Clifton Pierce, _Foster Genealogy_ (Chicago, 1899), 222.
[2] Fitch provided the provenance in a letter to Harry MacNeill Bland of Fridenberg Galleries, 10 April 1929 (typed copy, NGA curatorial file, provided by Elizabeth Clare, M. Knoedler & Co., 17 March 1960).
[3] Information provided by the Frick Art Reference Library, based on a letter from Harry MacNeill Bland, Fridenberg Galleries, New York, 24 March 1930.
[4] Information from the Frick Art Reference Library, based on a letter from Russell W. Thorpe, 13 February 1942.
[5] For his dates, see _Who Was Who in America_, 1 (1897-1942) (Chicago, 1966), 442; Mrs. Garvan lent the painting to the American Art Galleries exhibition in September 1929.
[6] Letters from Elizabeth Clare, M. Knoedler & Co., 22 March 1960 and 1 April 1960, NGA curatorial file. Fletcher is listed in _Who Was Who in America_, 3 (1951-1960) (Chicago, 1963), 288.