Helen Joseph Cooper Macmurphy Portrait

Artist/Creator

Unknown

Date

1860 to 1874

Description

Large oval painting of a young woman, Mrs. Helen Joseph Cooper Macmurphy, from the torso up. She is wearing a brown dress with a fringed edge, a light blue scarf that is tied up in a bow, and a stiff white collar. She is wearing a set of earrings and a brooch on the scarf. The earrings and brooch are black stone crucifixes with golden metal caps on the arms of the crosses. The jewelry set has been accessioned as 2014.033.008. Her hair is a dark brown/black parted in the middle and it comes together at the back of her neck with black ribbons visible. She has dark brown eyes. There is the top of a red chair and a green curtain/sash behind her.

The frame is an elaborately carved, multi-level, gessoed, and gold painted oval shape. The painting and its frame have been recently restored by the family. There are lovely 3-D carved flowers with leaves and berries at the top, bottom and middle sides of the frame. The very edge of the frame has an egg-and-dart pattern.

This is a portrait of Helen Joseph Cooper Macmurphy. She was born in Georgia in 1844, married to Gilbert Lafayette Macmurphy in 1866, and died in 1874. She is buried in Magnolia Cemetery in Augusta.

Credit Line

Donated by Mrs. Caroline Coppedge.

Location

Storage

Object ID

2014.033.016