Portrait: Mary Rutherfurd Jay
Artist unknown
1875
Oil on Canvas
JJ.1982.6 a&b
Mary Rutherfurd Jay (1872-1953) was the great-great granddaughter of John Jay (1745-1829). She was the granddaughter of John Clarkson Jay (1808-1891) and Laura Prime (1812-1887), descending through Jay’s oldest son, Peter Augustus.
This painting was done in 1875, when Mary was three years old. She is made to look like a “little adult”, wearing a court dress and a pearl necklace, with her hair in an upswept style. The dress and overall look were inspired by a portrait of Sarah Jay (1756-1802), Mary’s great-great grandmother.
The original portrait of Sarah Jay was painted by Daniel Huntington and was based off a miniature done by Alexander Roslin in 1783. Mary’s portrait was inspired by the painting of Sarah Jay and shares a few similarities, specifically Mary’s outfit; her dress has a similar neckline with lace around it, a fitted bodice and a flower on the left side of her collar. Mary is also holding a flower in her right hand and the portrait is set against a dark background with a floral design in the carpet.
At first, the painting was thought to be of Maria Jay (1782-1856), the daughter of John and Sarah Jay. However, in 1985, a photograph that was identical to this painting and identified as Mary R. Jay came into the collection. The dress from the portrait is believed to be in the collection of the Museum of the City of New York.
Mary Rutherfurd Jay was one of America’s earliest landscape architects and an advocate of horticultural careers for women. After World War I ended, Jay worked with the American Red Cross and the American Committee for Devastated France to help share and apply what she had learned about the restorative power of gardens. Originally, Jay’s mission was to supervise an agricultural unit to help residents of villages recover from the destruction of war but she ended up being sent to Versailles instead to work with wounded and shell-shocked soldiers in the Garden Army Service. In the 1930s, Jay began writing a book on horticulture and compiling an extensive family genealogy.
You may view the Object of the Day Archives HERE