Portrait of Jennie Walters Delano

Jennie Walters was born in 1853, the daughter of William T. and Ellen Walters (née Harper), and the sister of Henry Walters. She was educated in Paris, and at St. Mary's Convent, Georgetown, and later at Harvard University. In Cambridge she met Warren Delano, a close friend of her brother. She became engaged, and they married in 1876. After her marriage she lived in Orange, New Jersey, and, from 1900, in New York City. She had seven children, five of whom lived into adulthood. She died in 1922.

Baker's contemporaries credited his success to his early work as a miniature painter, a craft he learned from his father. Such training helped the younger Baker hone his skills at modeling the human figure, creating delicate color effects, and fostering a sense of intimacy in full-scale oil portraits.

This is the second and later oil painting of Jennie by Baker owned by the Walters. The earlier shows her as a little girl (WAM 37.1207). This portrait probably shows her at about the time of her marriage, at the age of twenty-three.

Provenance

Provenance (from the French provenir, 'to come from/forth') is the chronology of the ownership, custody, or location of a historical object.

Owned by Sara D. Redmond; given to Walters Art Museum, 1977.