A photograph of Mrs Depew circa 1905.
The sitter was born in New York on May 3, 1867 and married Senator Chauncey M. Depew in Nice, France on December 28, 1901 as his second wife. She died in Washington DC on 27 July 1940.
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A letter from the artist to James J. Hill of St. Paul dated 8 May 1902 informs us that he was at Corcoran House, Lafayette Square, painting Mrs. Depew. In the Archives of American Art, is a letter dated May 26, 1902, from Chauncey M. Depew to Crosby S. Noyes, the Editor of the Washington Evening Star which reads in part as follows:
‘My dear Mr. Noyes,
Mr. Muller-Ury has just finished a portrait of Mrs. Depew which I consider excellent. Mr. Muller-Ury will take it to New York to-morrow to finish the details. I should be very glad to have your critic see it before it goes. He could call any time to-day at his convenience…’
The portrait hanging in the music room of Depew’s home, Corcoran House, Washington DC, as reproduced in Town & Country March 28, 1903
An article in Vogue, February 26, 1903, commented helpfully: ‘ Among the portraits which Mr. Ury has recently completed is that of Mrs Chauncey M. Depew. The portrait is somewhat different from Mr. Ury’s usual style, for it is bold and clear, and decisive in detail. Very clearly he has made this a portrait, suggestive of the time of Louis XV, for Mrs. Depew with her hair rolled in a high pompadour, is much like a grand dame of the old court days. The curtain, which forms part of the background, is of a soft gray-blue, repeating in lower tone the color of the girdle and the garniture on the waist of the white gown. The chair has colors of orange and gold, and there is a touch of these hints in the drapery.’
In 1933, according to the Washington Social Register, she lived at 2107 Massachusetts Avenue, Washington D.C.
