. Mather Brown, born in Boston in 1761, had come to London in 1781 to study painting
with Benjamin West. Of the three Adams portraits that he executed in 1785, that of
are lost. On 2 Sept., AA2
's reaction to a portrait done of him, presumably that by Brown, in her journal: “.
. . we had some conversation upon the pictures below. Papa said they were spoiled;
he was not at all content with his own, yet thought it the best that had ever been
taken of him. No one had yet caught his character. The ruling principles in his moral
character were candour, probity, and decision. I think he discovered more knowledge
of himself than usually falls to the lot of man” (Jour, and Corr.
, 1:80). Brown painted JA
again in 1788 for Thomas Jefferson, who owned this portrait until his death; it is
now in the Boston Athenaeum. Brown's portrait of AA2
is at the Adams National Historic Site, Quincy, Mass. A “Portrait of a Lady,” in
the N. Y. State Historical Association, previously identified as that of AA
by Mather Brown, is no longer considered to be by Brown. The identity of the sitter,
as well, is now questioned. The painting is signed by Ralph Earl but no evidence exists
that he painted AA
at this or any other time. The eyes of the “Lady” are blue; those of AA
in her other likenesses are brown. These reasons are enough for the editors to doubt,
until further supporting evidence is found, that the “Lady” is AA
, Mather Brown, Early American Artist in England
, Middletown, Conn., 1982, p. 195). See the Abigail Adams 2D, July 1785, by Mather Brown 217Descriptive List of Illustrations
in this volume.