Portrait of George Washington

As indicated by a hand-inscribed label on the reverse, this portrait was owned by Mrs. Harriet J. (White) Bradbury (1851-1930), a noted philanthropist in early twentieth-century Boston. The label refers to her city residence, a townhouse at 285 Commonwealth Ave, where Mrs. Bradbury lived from the building’s completion in 1903-1904 until her death in 1930. She may have purchased the portrait offered here or inherited it from her brother, George Robert White (1847-1922). An owner of a drug company and a real estate investor, White amassed a fortune and formed a substantial collection of art. He lived with his sister and her husband Frederick T. Bradbury (1848-1919) in Boston while maintaining a large mansion in Manchester and in his will, bequeathed his picture collection to his sister. White was a major benefactor to the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, which bears a wing in his name and, said to have been the City’s highest tax payer at the time of his death in 1922, he left $5 million to the City of Boston. After his death, his sister Harriet continued her brother’s charitable endeavors and upon her own death, left a large bequest to the Museum (see backbayhouses.org/285-Commonwealth and www.mfa.org, acc. no. 30.503).