ATTRIBUTED TO COSMO ALEXANDER
PORTRAIT OF MRS ROSS
£600
Auction: 26 September 2018 at 12:00 BST
Description
Bears signature 'Alex.,' oil on canvas, unframed
Dimensions
91.5cm x 117cm (36in x 46in)
Footnote
Note: Elizabeth Morgan Ross was the wife of the Honourable John Ross, Attorney General of Delaware. John Ross commissioned four portraits from Cosmo Alexander, and they are believed to be the first of the artist's U.S. commissions.
John's portrait and that of his daughter Catherine Gurney, are now owned by the Fogg Museum at Harvard. The portrait of their other daughter Margaretta, is owned by a descendant of Benjamin Franklin, as it was his daughter Sally who sat to enable Cosmo Alexander to finish the portrait after Margaretta's death in 1766.
The portrait of Elizabeth Morgan Ross has been listed as missing in Cosmo Alexander's catalogue raisonne for many years.