Jeanne Morrison was the wife of Julian Morrison, a reporter for the Daily News in Washington DC and a good friend of Benny, Christine’s ex-husband. Christine was on a trip to Washington to earn money painting portraits of some Congressmen and other statesmen that Benny had been able to facilitate in his role as a staff consultant for the Congressional Committee on Foreign Affairs. See the Biography for details of how this turned out.

There are no diaries from this time, but there is a note in the family photo album explaining how Jeanne had recently inherited a considerable amount of money and wanted to commission a portrait by Christine. In the process of painting the portrait, they became great friends.

The painting is an excellent example of a very refined use of Christine’s scrub technique which she had only recently developed. I think the soft style and minimal use of paint really lends itself to this type of subject.