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Portrait of Jane Erwin (Yeatman) Bell

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Portrait of Jane Erwin (Yeatman) Bell

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Creator	Wood, Thomas Waterman (1823-1903)
Title	Portrait of Jane Erwin (Yeatman) Bell
Date	1861
Genre	Paintings
Material/Technique	oil on canvas
Description	Portrait of a dark-haired, middle aged woman wearing black clothing and standing in front of a drapery, with a distant landscape view of a river bend visible to her right.
Historical note	At the time this portrait was painted, Jane Erwin Yeatman Bell was married to Tennessee Senator John Bell, who had been the Constitutional Union Party candidate for President of the United States in 1860. Very popular in Tennessee, his party had hoped to maintain the Union without challenging the institution of slavery. Her first husband, ironmaster Thomas Yeatman, had left her a wealthy widow upon his death in 1833. When war came to Tennessee, two of the Yeatman sons remained loyal Unionists, one served as an officer, the other appointed to head the Western Sanitary Commission. The younger son, Henry Clay Yeatman, who had married into the Polk family in Maury County, served as an aide to Confederate General Leonidas Polk. Artist Thomas Waterman Wood (1823-1903), a native of Vermont, trained as an artist in Boston and New York. He came to Nashville in 1859 and created portraits for wealthy and prominent patrons for several years before moving north to Louisville at the onset of the Civil War.
Subject	Portraits; Women; Bell, John, 1796-1869
Theme	Walking a Fine Line Taking Care of Business
Story	Thomas Waterman Wood Iron Industry
Geographic Location	United States--Tennessee--Nashville; United States--Tennessee--Stewart County
Time period	1860-1869
Language	eng
Contributing Institution	Tennessee State Museum
Rights	Images reproduced on this website are intended for individual, educational use only. For research inquiries about specific objects or requests for high resolution images, contact the Tennessee State Museum.
Type	Still image
Format	image/jpg
Archival file	shades3/shades_tsm_0013.jpg