Margaretta Bowne Crawford

Artist John Bradley

Periodca. 1845

MediumOil on canvas

Dimensions33.6 × 26.8 in. (85.3 × 68.1 cm)

SignedInscribed lower left, "J. Bradley / 134 Spring St. N. Y."

ClassificationsPortraits

Credit LineBequest of Miss Rebekah Crawford, 1934

Object number570

DescriptionWoman facing left seated at a pianoforte, wearing a black dress with white lace collar and cuffs. She also wears a gold brooch, a silver necklace, a gold watch and chain. A popular Irish ballad entitled The Angel's Whisper is displayed on the music rack of the pianoforte.
Curatorial RemarksThe subject is shown sitting at a pianoforte with her right hand on the keyboard. The music on the rack is a popular Irish ballad titled The Angel’s Whisper by Samuel Lover of New York, a song that went through more than seven editions. The depiction of the sheet music is so accurate that it can be played readily. Like the companion portrait of her husband, Margaretta’s likeness is signed in the lower left corner, “J. Bradley 134 Spring St. N. Y.” The artist worked at that Manhattan address from 1844 to 1847.NotesMargaretta Hull Bowne (1817 - 1910) was born in Freehold, NJ, the daughter of John Bowne and Mary Clarke. She married James Patterson Crawford of Middletown in 1836 at Old Brick Church in Marlboro. They became the parents of eight or ten children. Later in life, the family moved to Brooklyn, where after the death of her husband in 1874 Margaretta lived with her daughter Rebekah and niece Gretta Crawford. She died there in 1910 at the age of ninety-two.

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