Scottish Rite Masonic Museum & Library

Mary Devlin Booth (1840-1863)
1883
Eastman Johnson (1824-1906)
USA: New York, New York City
Oil on canvas
24-1/4"h x 20"w; frame: 31-3/4"h x 27-3/4"w x 3"d
Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Richard Manney
79.78.2

Bust-length portrait of woman, Mary Devlin Booth, looking over her own left shoulder, hair parted in center, with brooch at lace collar; she has long hair, pulled back from face; dark background; old label on back reads "My grandmother Mary Devlin Booth / painted by Eastman Johnson."

This portrait portrays Mary Devlin Booth, the first wife of Edwin Booth, an actor and brother of infamous assassin John Wilkes Booth, who shot and killed Abraham Lincoln. Mary Devlin Booth was an actress. This portrait was painted from a photograph twenty years after her death. It is one of several Booth family portraits completed by Eastman Johnson. Mary Devlin Booth died in Boston in 1863 and is buried in Cambridge's Mount Auburn Cemetery.