Thomas Sully (or) Charles Bird King (attributed to) Thomas Sully, (1783-1872) Charles Bird King, (1785-1862) MRS. WILLIAM BIDDLE SHEPARD, NEE CHARLOTTE BUISTE CAZENOVE (1812-1839) oil on canvas laid to board, framed, unsigned H30" W25 1/2"
Provenance : Descended in the family to present owner from William Biddle Shepard (1799-1852). The family has always known this portrait to be by Thomas Sully.
Literature: National Society Colonial Dames of America, North Carolina. NORTH CAROLINA PORTRAIT INDEX 1700-1860. Chapel Hill, NC: Univ. of North Carolina Press, 1963. Illustrated p.208. SIRIS: (Smithsonian Institute Research Information System), catalog # IAP 82010412
Other Notes: William Biddle Shepard (1799-1852) was born in New Bern, North Carolina, the son of Mary Williams Blount and William Shepard, noted public speaker and wealthy landowner. After graduating from University of Pennsylvania Shepard pursued a career as a banker and lawyer, and continued on to serve in the US House of Representatives (1828-1837), and several sessions in the North Carolina State Senate (1838-40, 1844, 1848-50). It was here that Shepard became a bitter opponent of Andrew Jackson and of slavery. Shepard married twice and fathered one child from each marriage. His first wife Charlotte Buiste Cazenove (sitter in this portrait; died in childbirth) He then married Annie Collins. (Dictionary of North Carolina Biography 5:329).
Good restored condition. Canvas has been cut and laid to massonite. UV light examination reveals areas of restoration and touch up long the bottom of the painting, to the right shoulder area, and few specks around the face.