Study of a sheep and lamb [at Mary Mason Hudson farm in Paoli]

[bottom right of dark gray paper in white crayon]: Violet / Oakley; [verso on label in black ink]: At farm in / Paoli / Polly Mason? ["Macy" struck over]Better known as “Polly,” Mary Mason Hudson (1912-2001) was a supporter of the arts and culture in Philadelphia. She served a term as president of PAFA’s Women’s Board and made gifts to the Library Company and Philadelphia Museum of Art. Her mother Mary Townsend Mason was a noted painter, and her father was a senior partner with a prominent Philadelphia law firm. Polly married Henry Lea Hudson (1906-1982) in 1935. A descendant of Matthew Carey and Henry Charles Lea, Hudson was a senior partner at Lea & Febiger, a longtime medical publishing house, also in Philadelphia. In 1950, the Hudsons made their home at a country estate in Tredyffrin Township in east Chester County. This is no doubt the “Paoli farm” inscribed on the drawing. Known as Toad Hall, it remained their home until Polly’s death in 2001. A portrait of a young and elegant Polly painted in 1928 by Alice Kent Stoddard is in PAFA’s collection.