This is a portrait of Mrs. Charles Beatty Alexander, the former Harriet Crocker.  The painting was done in 1902 by John Singer Sargent. 
 

And this is her husband, Charles Beatty Alexander.  The photo is taken from his passport application.  Charles Beatty Alexander (1849-1927) is my 3rd cousin four times removed.*

He was from New York, where he was a lawyer for Equitable Life Insurance.  He served as director of the Middletown & Unionville Railroad, the Hocking Valley Railroad, and several banks.  He also was active in the Democratic party.  He died in Manhattan and is buried in Princeton, New Jersey.

Harriet Crocker Beatty was the daughter of, Charles Crocker, who was a wealthy railroad investor.  He was was one of the "Big Four," a nickname given to the four men who built the Central Pacific Railroad.  But one of the most interesting facts about him is that he built a remarkable fence around part of his property on Nob Hill in San Francisco. The fence was meant to obstruct the view of a neighbor who refused to sell his property to Crocker.  Consequently, Crocker's fence is used by Wikipedia to define "spite fence," see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spite_fence.

*Charles B. Alexander was the son of Henry Martin Alexander, who was the son of Archibald Alexander, son of William Alexander, son of Archibald Alexander who was my 5th great grandfather.  Charles B. Alexander was the 3rd cousin of my great-great grandfather Robert Tate Willson (through his mother Phebe Tate, her mother Margaret McClung, her mother Elizabeth Alexander, who was the daughter of Archibald Alexander and sister of William Alexander).