Harriet Beecher Stowe, National Portrait Gallery

Harriet Beecher Stowe

Dimensions: 105.4 x 88.3 x 8.6cm (41 1/2 x 34 3/4 x 3 3/8")
86.4 x 68.6 x 2.5cm (34 x 27 x 1")

Accession #: NPG.68.1
Object #: 58833
Credit Lines: National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution
Alexander Purdy, National Theater, New York. George P. Howard, Marion, Mass.; purchased by NPG December 1967. Note: Purdy commissioned a portrait from the artist, and then a replica. It is not known whether NPG 68.1 was the first or not; nor is it certain that Fisher even had a life sitting from Stowe as suggested in publication. [nothing in file at least]The newspaper account of Mr. Stowe’s testimony, the main contemp document, describes an elaborate frame: neither this nor the one at Stowe-Daye came with original frame. (Letter from George Howard. [see also memo to file EGM noting that frame is inscribed on reverse: “Two Children and Dog by John Neagle.”] Joseph S. Van Why, Curator of the Stowe-Day Foundation, thought theirs was the replica because it came without frame and Fisher’s had “the original victorian frame.” This was however not true, and Howard was sure his (NPG’s) was the replica. Letter to Robert G. Stewart, October 16, 1967. The donor wrote that he remembered the portrait among trunks of theatrical effects on the third floor of his grandmother’s house-- unframed. Letter to Charles Nagel, December 3, 1967. Letter 12/3/67 Howard had the frame made; “As to the original frame for this portrait—it has not existed in my lifetime.”