Abigail Adams and Her Daughter Mary

Originally attributed to famed portraitist Gilbert Stuart, this painting was thought to represent Mrs. John Quincy Adams and her daughter, Marion Adams Frothingham. Further research revealed that the named sitters and the artist attribution were incorrect. The painting is by Jane Stuart (1812‒1888), Gilbert Stuart’s daughter, and the sitters are Abigail Brown Brooks Adams and her daughter, Mary Gardener Adams Quincy. Abigail, the wife of Charles Francis Adams, the son of President John Quincy Adams, supported her husband’s political career but was also a thinker who took an interest in civic service, calling upon her community to preserve George Washington’s Mount Vernon.