Spuriosity

Although this portrait of Margaret Smith Taylor is widely used, it is also widely dismissed.

The Library of Congress identifies the portrait as “Margaret Taylor [i.e., unidentified woman]” and notes that “This portrait has been declared ‘spurious.’” They give the source of the image as: “Lila G.A. Woolfall, Presiding Ladies of the White House, 1903.”

The White House Historical Society says that “This drawing of Margaret Taylor is from 1903, nearly 50 years after her death. No certain likeness of Margaret Taylor survives.”

Encyclopedia Britannica uses an image of a painting obviously related to the Woolfall engraving.



Betty Boyd Caroli, in her Britannica article on Margaret Smith Taylor, remarks that, “One of the most elusive of all first ladies, no portrait of her made during her lifetime was believed to have survived. However, at least one photograph of her was reportedly later found.” That photo would be the daguerreotype sold at auction in 2010.