Portrait of a Woman

Inscriptions

Inscribed on stretcher, handwritten: "MRS. REBECCA BEEKMAN AFTERWARD THE WIFE OF GENERAL SPRY"

Provenance

Private collection, England. Private collection, United States, by 1953; with Hills Jewelers, Piermont, NY, by Nov. 1953 [this and the following according to Stock Books, 1951-1953, 42–43, box 17, folder 3, Victor D. Spark papers, circa 1830-1983, bulk 1930-1970, Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, https://www.aaa.si.edu/collections/victor-d-spark-papers-7451/subseries-4-2/box-17-folder-4, accessed Oct. 13, 2022]; sold to Victor D. Spark (1898–1991), New York, Hirschl and Adler Gallery, New York, and possibly Graham Gallery, New York, by Nov. 1953 [the sale, divided in 1/3 shares among each of these parties, accompanied another portrait by the same artist, Portrait of a Young Man, 1749/52 (1953.463)]; sold to the Art Institute of Chicago, 1953.

Exhibition history

Art Institute of Chicago, Two Centuries of American Art, 1750-1950, Oct. 1, 1959–Jan. 10, 1960, no cat. [downloadable checklist available].

Publications

Paintings in the Art Institute of Chicago: A Catalogue of the Picture Collection (Art Institute of Chicago, 1961), 485 (ill.). David R. Hanks, "American Paintings at the Art Institute of Chicago," The Magazine Antiques 104 (Sept. 1973): 410 (ill). Ulysses G. Dietz, American Art in The Newark Museum: Paintings, Drawings and Sculpture (Newark, NJ: The Newark Museum, 1981), 397.

Quick Overview

Artist: John Wollaston (American, born England, c. 1710–c. 1775)
Date: 1749–52
Medium: Oil on canvas
Dimensions: 132.6 × 107.2 cm (52 3/16 × 42 3/16 in.)
Type: Painting
Classification: painting
Place: United States
Department: Arts of the Americas
Credit line: Goodman Fund
Accession no.: 1953.462

More by John Wollaston in museum collections

Portrait of a Naval Officer
John Wollaston
1749–58 · Painting
Public collection via the Art Institute of ChicagoAT-00000857
Portrait of a Young Man
John Wollaston
1749–52 · Painting
Public collection via the Art Institute of ChicagoAT-00001253

Data retrieved from the Art Institute of Chicago on October 8, 2026. The museum may have updated its record since.