Ann Gibbes, later Mrs. Edward Thomas

Artist John Wollaston the younger (English, active in America, about 1710–1775)

Date1767

Mediumoil on canvas

Dimensionscanvas: 76.4 × 63.8 cm (30 1/16 × 25 1/8 in.)
framed: 91.4 × 79.2 cm (36 × 31 3/16 in.)

ClassificationsPaintings

Credit LineMuseum Purchase

Terms

Object number1946.1

Label TextYards of glistening pink satin, a froth of lace spilling from neck and sleeves, and the luxurious hint of ermine trim all captivate the eye in this portrait of fifteen-year-old Charlestown, South Carolina-born Ann Gibbes, painted here just seven months before she married Edward Thomas. Her father, William Gibbes (1722–1789), owned a plantation along the Ashley River in South Carolina, along with sixty-eight slaves. British-born John Wollaston was acclaimed for his skilled ability to depict lush fabrics in paint. His large body of work in the Americas—nearly 300 portraits over almost two decades in New York, Philadelphia, Charleston, and Barbados—is marked by a great flair for the sumptuous costumes of his sitters. He often idealized his sitters’ faces, giving them large, almond-shaped eyes, which can be seen in both the portraits of Miss Gibbes here, and of Charles Willing, on view nearby. Source: Inventory of the estate of William Gibbes, Charleston County Inventories, vol. B, 1787–93, South Carolina Department of Archives and History, Columbia. ProvenanceMrs. James Ritchie Sparkman (Mary Elizabeth Heriot) (1827–1912); to her son Edward Heriot Sparkman (1846–1934); to his daughter Mary A. Sparkman, a great-great-great granddaughter of the sitter, who sold it to the Worcester Art Museum in 1946.

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