Robert Feke (1707 - 1752)

In what appears to be the original frame; Bears a label on the back of the frame: Mr. Willing, Bryn Mawr.



Painted circa 1746.



Label on the back of the stretcher: Philadelphia Museum of Art, Robert Feke, Portrait of Mrs. Tench Francis, 11-1969-2. Lender: Mr. E. Shippen Willing, Jr.

Mrs. Tench Francis (formerly Elizabeth Turbutt) to her daughter Margaret Tench Francis (who married Edward Shippen);

descended to Edward's son Richard Shippen;

to Richard's daughter Elizabeth Shippen (died 1871 in Burlington, New Jersey);

to her brother Edward Shippen, Philadelphia;

Katherine Shippen Packard:

to her nephew Edward Shippen Willing in c. 1905;

to his son E. Shippen Willing, Jr., Bainbridge Island, Washington.

Foote, Henry Wilder. Robert Feke: Colonial Portrait Painter (Cambridge, 1930, rpt. Kennedy Galleries, 1969);

R. Peter Mooz, "Robert Feke: A Philadelphia Story," in American Painting to 1776: A Reappraisal, ed. by M.G. Quimby (Winterthur Conference Report, 1971): 181-216.

Relined; fine cracquelure throughout which has been carefully filled in. Colors are healthy, portrait presents very well. Appears to retain its original frame, new stretcher.
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The subject is Elizabeth Turbutt (1708-1800), daughter of Foster and Bridgett Turbutt of Talbot County Maryland. She was born March 17, 1708 and married to Tench Francis of Philadelphia on December 29, 1724. She died in Philadelphia on May 1, 1800.

This portrait is recorded in the principal work on Feke by Henry Wilder Foote on pages 149 and 150 as Mrs. Tench Francis No. 1 the portrait is illustrated opposite page 150 beside a second and larger portrait of Mrs. Tench Francis.

The companion portrait to Mrs. Francis of Tench Francis is now in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. (Tench Francis, no. 2 in Foote, p. 148-9).  An earlier portrait (perhaps prior to 1740) of this sitter is referred to as "Mrs. Tench Francis, no.1" in Foote, p. 149-150 (ill.). 

Feke painted her and her husband each two times.