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Jean Balfour Blair (Mrs. John Blair, 1736-1792)
Artist: Cosmo John Alexander
Date: 1770-1771
Jean Balfour was Scottish and married her Virginia-born cousin, John Blair (1732-1800), in Edinburgh while he was visiting in 1756. Her husband, John Blair, was the son of John Blair, son of Archibald Blair. The artist appears to have signed and dated the portrait in 1776. However, the portrait looks heavily overpainted. The artist worked in Virginia in 1770-1771.
Dimensions: 36 1/4 x 27 7/8 in. (92.08 x 70.80 cm.)
She is seated, wearing a wrap dress with jeweled clasps on her sleeves. Her right elbow rests on a carved table, and her right hand holds a sprig of flowers in her lap. The background appears plain.
See: FARL
Family: Blair
Location: Williamsburg
Decade: 1770s
Credits: Supreme Court of the United States. Photograph by Thurman Rotan, courtesy of the Frick Art Reference Library.