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Frances Folsom Cleveland

National Portrait Gallery

Object Details

Artist
Anders Leonard Zorn, 18 Feb 1860 - 1920
Sitter
Frances Folsom Cleveland, 21 Jul 1864 - 29 Oct 1947
Exhibition Label
Born Buffalo, New York
First Lady 1886–1889; 1893–1897
No other first lady had been a celebrity before Frances Clara Folsom Cleveland. The media coverage of her White House wedding to President Grover Cleveland excited the romantic sentiments of many Americans. Almost overnight, the twenty-one-year old bride became an icon. Her clothing choices were copied, and her likeness was used without permission or compensation in innumerable advertisements. And when her husband was re-elected to an unprecedented second, non-consecutive, term in 1892, she became the only woman to serve as first lady twice.
This elegant portrait of Frances Cleveland by Swedish artist Anders Zorn acts as a companion to Zorn’s likeness of Grover Cleveland, which hangs nearby in the America’s Presidents galleries. The painting shows the former first lady at age thirty-five, at the couple’s home in Princeton, New Jersey. She wears one of her signature looks: a lace-ruffled gown revealing her bare shoulders and arms.
Nacida en Buffalo, Nueva York
Primera dama 1886–1889; 1893–1897
Ninguna otra primera dama había sido una celebridad antes de Frances Clara Folsom Cleveland. La cobertura mediática de su boda en la Casa Blanca con el presidente Grover Cleveland exaltó los sentimientos románticos de muchos. Casi al instante, la novia de 21 años se convirtió en ícono. Las mujeres copiaban su vestuario y su imagen se usó en infinidad de anuncios sin permiso ni compensación. Y cuando el esposo fue reelecto en 1892 para un segundo término no consecutivo, ella fue primera dama por segunda vez. Ambos sucesos eran inéditos.
Este elegante retrato de Frances Cleveland por el artista sueco Anders Zorn es compañero del de Grover Cleveland, también por Zorn, expuesto aquí cerca en el área de Presidentes de Estados Unidos. La primera dama fue pintada a los 35 años en el hogar de la pareja en Princeton, Nueva Jersey. Luce uno de sus estilos típicos: traje con volantes de encaje que deja hombros y brazos al descubierto.
Credit Line
National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution; gift of Frances Payne
1899
Object number
S/NPG.77.124
Restrictions & Rights
CC0
Type
Painting
Medium
Oil on canvas
Dimensions
Stretcher: 138.3 × 93.2 × 3.3 cm (54 7/16 × 36 11/16 × 1 5/16")
Frame: 175.9 × 131.8 × 8.4 cm (69 1/4 × 51 7/8 × 3 5/16")
See more items in
National Portrait Gallery Collection
Location
Currently not on view
National Portrait Gallery
Topic
Interior
Frances Folsom Cleveland: Female
Frances Folsom Cleveland: Arts and Culture\Education and Scholarship\Educator\Professor\University
Frances Folsom Cleveland: Politics and Government\First Lady\First Lady of US
Portrait
Record ID
npg_S_NPG.77.124
Metadata Usage (text)
CC0
GUID (Link to Original Record)
http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/sm4c1786c55-f327-437d-958e-0e137156fc9a

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