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Anna Dummer Powell

Anna Dummer Powell

1764

John Singleton Copley

(American, 1738–1815)

America, 18th century

Oil on canvas

Framed: 143.5 x 119 x 7 cm (56 1/2 x 46 7/8 x 2 3/4 in.); Unframed: 126.6 x 100.6 cm (49 13/16 x 39 5/8 in.)

Gift of Ellery Sedgwick, Jr., in memory of Mabel Cabot Sedgwick 1980.202

Location

204 Colonial American

Did you know?

The museum also owns Copley’s original bill of sale for this painting and its frame.

Description

Less than two months before the 80-year-old Powell passed away, one of her sons commissioned this portrait in order to commemorate her life and create an heirloom for future generations. According to the sitter’s granddaughter, Powell was “a little woman of sober conviction and strong Presbyterian faith.” The painting passed through a line of female descendants until shortly before it was given to the museum.

Provenance

1980-

The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, Ohio

By 1937-1980

Ellery Sedgwick, Jr. [1908-1991], Cleveland, OH, to the Cleveland Museum of Art

By 1920-by 1937

Mabel Cabot Sedgwick [1873-1937], by descent to her son, Ellery Sedgwick, Jr.

-by 1920

Elizabeth Rogers Mason Cabot [1834-1920], by descent to her daughter, Mabel Cabot Sedgwick

By 1915

Anna Powell Rogers? ¹

By 1873

Mr. or Mrs. Henry Rogers, possibly by descent to Mrs. Rogers' sister, Elizabeth Cabot ²

By 1783

Anna Powell Perkins, Boston, by descent to her granddaughter, Mrs. Henry Rogers, or to Mr. Henry Rogers

Provenance Footnotes

¹There is question as to whether this painting was ever owned by Anna Powell Rogers. The suggestion comes from Frank W. Bayley's "The Life and Works of John Singleton Copley" (1915), which lists "Miss A.P. Rogers" as the current owner of the portrait. A note in the curatorial file, however, remarks that Ellery Sedgwick, Jr. did not believe she owned the painting, but rather thought that Mrs. Henry Rogers passed it directly to Elizabeth Cabot.

²Barbara Neville Parker's and Anne Bolling Wheeler's John Singleton Copley (1938) includes Mrs. Henry Rogers in the provenance, while Augustus Thorndike Perkin's A Sketch of the Life and a List of Some of the Works of John Singleton Copley (1873) lists Henry Rogers as the current owner.

Citations

Handwritten notations on letter from Ellery Sedgwick, Jr. to Sherman Lee, Sept. 4, 1980, in CMA curatorial file.

Linda Jackson, letter to Ellery Sedgwick, Jr., June 7, 1982, in CMA curatorial file.

Handwritten notations on letter from Ellery Sedgwick, Jr. to Sherman Lee, Sept. 4, 1980, in CMA curatorial file.

Handwritten notations on letter from Ellery Sedgwick, Jr. to Sherman Lee, Sept. 4, 1980, in CMA curatorial file.

Note written by “L,” in CMA curatorial file.

Linda Jackson, letter to Ellery Sedgwick, Jr., June 7, 1982, in CMA curatorial file.

Note written by “L,” in CMA curatorial file.

Linda Jackson, letter to Ellery Sedgwick, Jr., June 7, 1982, in CMA curatorial file.

Linda Jackson, letter to Ellery Sedgwick, Jr., June 7, 1982, in CMA curatorial file.

Handwritten notations on letter from Ellery Sedgwick, Jr. to Sherman Lee, Sept. 4, 1980, in CMA curatorial file.

Linda Jackson, letter to Ellery Sedgwick, Jr., June 7, 1982, in CMA curatorial file.

Handwritten notations on letter from Ellery Sedgwick, Jr. to Sherman Lee, Sept. 4, 1980, in CMA curatorial file.

Parker, Barbara Neville, and Anne Bolling Wheeler. John Singleton Copley; American Portraits in Oil, Pastel, and Miniature. Boston, Mass: Museum of Fine Arts, 1938.

Maine Historical Society. Collections of the Maine Historical Society. Portland, Me: Maine Historical Society, 1831.

Handwritten notations on letter from Ellery Sedgwick, Jr. to Sherman Lee, Sept. 4, 1980, in CMA curatorial file.

Linda Jackson, letter to Ellery Sedgwick, Jr., June 7, 1982, in CMA curatorial file.

Adams, Henry. What's American about American art?: a gallery tour in the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2008. Reproduced: p. 38 - 39

Exhibition history

Boston, Musuem of Fine Arts, Boston, Loan Exhibition of One Hundred Colonial Portraits (19 June - 21 September 1930), illus. p. 72.

Washington, National Gallery of Art, John Singleton Copley, 1738-1815 (18 September - 31 October 1965), traveled to New York, The Metropolitan Museum of Art (20 November 1965 - 2 January 1966), traveled to Boston, Museum of Fine Arts (22 January - 6 March 1966); exhibition catalogue, pp. 36, 136, illus. no. 21.

Cleveland, Cleveland Museum of Art, Year in Review for 1981 (1981).

Year in Review: 1980. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (June 24-July 19, 1981).

Cite this page

{{cite web|title=Anna Dummer Powell|url=https://clevelandart.org/art/1980.202|author=John Singleton Copley|year=1764|access-date=21 September 2023|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

See also

Collection:

American - Painting

Department:

American Painting and Sculpture

Type of artwork:

Medium:

Credit line:

Gift of Ellery Sedgwick, Jr., in memory of Mabel Cabot Sedgwick

Contact us

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