TOWNSEND, Mildred
Description:
Full-length standing, the child dressed in outdoor coat, gloves and hat. Signed lower right.
Location:
Present whereabouts unknown.
Exhibition:
NATIONAL ACADEMY OF DESIGN, New York, in the ‘Loan Exhibition of Portraits’, October 31 – December 7, 1895.
FRENCH & Co. INC., 210, East 57th Street, New York, April 21 – May 3, 1947, No. 21 – as ‘Mildred Townsend (Mrs. H. Glendenning).’
Bibliography:
New York Recorder, October 27, 1895
New York Recorder, October 30, 1895
Town Topics, October 31, 1895
Vanity, New York, November 2, 1895
The sitter was the daughter of James Bliss Townsend, of whom in American Art News, Vol. 19, No. 24 (March 26, 1921) p. 4, Muller-Ury wrote the following letter when Townsend died:
‘Editor American Art News:
It was a cruel shock for me on my return from the West to hear the very sad news of the death of my dear good friend Mr. J. B. Townsend. The loss of such a great personality to art is really terrible, and his geniality will be sadly missed.
Adolfo Muller-Ury
33 W. 67th St. N. Y. March 19, 1921.’
James Bliss Townsend had been the art editor of the New York Herald before eventually becoming editor of American Art News. He died on March 10, 1921 aged 78. He had been born in 1855, and educated at Princeton, and married Miss Eugenie Mathilda Gilbert of New York city in 1886, and had four children, Mildred Gilbert Townsend, Audinet Gilbert Townsend (1890-1892), Reginald Wilmont Townsend (born 1890), a Princeton graduate of 1912, and Noemi Doris Gilbert Townsend (1896-1975).
There is a fragmentary letter amongst the artist’s papers from Eugenie Gilbert Townsend, written from 108, East 29th Street, New York on June 6, 1893:
‘Dear Mr. Ury
I am sorry to trouble you but will you kindly give the bearer Mildred’s things which I am sure you will be glad to get out of your…
…I was delighted that all the family were so pleased with the portrait, they were charmed with it.
Thanking you again for your patience with Mildred,
Believe me, Sincerely yours, Eugenie Gilbert Townsend’
The New York Times, 13 January 1907, reported that Mr and Mrs James R. (sic) Townsend were giving their daughter Mildred Gilbert Townsend a theatre party followed by a dance and supper.
Another letter (artist’s papers) written by the sitter on March 1, 1923, from 20, Avenue Laurier, Quebec reads as follows:
Dear Mr. Ury;
I was so interested in seeing in the Sun that you had been made a Papal Knight – and I wanted to write you a line of congratulation – Papa was always such an admirer of your work, and we are all so fond and proud of the portrait you did of me in the black velvet coat, it was my first pair of long silk stockings. I was so proud of myself & felt quite grown up. Again many congratulations and best wishes.
Yours sincerely
Mildred Townsend Atkinson.’
Her husband was Donald C. Atkinson.
