A
PORTRAIT OF DOLLEY MADISON FOR THE WHITE HOUSE
HELEN H. TAFT. Letter Signed as First Lady
to Mrs. Cox, Washington, DC, 13 December [1911]. 3 pages, 6" x
4", on blue White House notepaper.
The
wife of William Howard Taft, this First Lady had hoped to play an active
role in the White House, but she was stymied by a stroke which she suffered
just a few months into her husband's administration. Because of her
illness, Helen Taft's letters as First Lady are quite scarce. Here,
she answers an inquiry about the potential donation of a portrait of
another First Lady, Dolley Madison, to the White House.
"I understand that an Act of Congress is not necessary before
a picture or portrait can be hung in the White House, nor would it have
to be passed upon by an Art Commission," Mrs. Taft notes.
"The Colonial Dames of Virginia may therefore present the portrait
of Mrs. Madison, as they generously propose to do, without other formality."
The Colonial Dames of Virginia did, in fact, donate a portrait of Dolley
Madison to the White House in May 1912. Painted by Mary Ursula Whitlock,
it was copied after the 1804 Gilbert Stuart portrait of Dolley Madison,
which now belongs to the White House but which was owned in 1912 by
the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts.
The letter is written on blue White House notepaper. It is dated only
"Wednesday, December 13th"; the year of 1911 is noted
in pencil in another hand.
The letter is in very good condition. It is accompanied by information
from the White House Curator’s office regarding the donated portrait.
Based on this information, the recipient of this letter was most likely
Mrs. William Ruffin Cox, who was from Virginia and who was president
of the National Society of Colonial Dames at the time.
A fine reference by one First Lady to another. $750.00
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