Quotation from article on Alice Neel in Colorado Springs Independent 10/04/01:

[Note paintings were painted in 1971 - not 1969] "Interestingly, Neel painted several well-known Coloradans in her long career. In 1969, Springs native Timothy Collins (who, incidentally, owned the Warhol portrait and donated it to the Whitney in 1980) commissioned her to paint both himself and his mother, Leila Webb Davidson. Neither portrait is in the show, but Neel's 1971 portrait of Diane Vanderlip, now curator of contemporary art at the Denver Art Museum, can be seen. Alice refused to paint her in a favorite black outfit, so Diane, seen by Alice as a beautiful, controlled, contained and opaque young woman is (apparently uncharacteristically) dressed in a shimmery blue top and white pants."

Born in Colorado Springs, CO in 1911, Leila Davidson was the great granddaughter of Jefferson F. Davis, who served as President of the Confederate States during the Cival War, from 1861 to 1865.