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Sarah Pierce 1767-1852 of The Litchfield Female Academy

October 15, 2013, 12:59 am
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A History of the Litchfield Female Academy

Sarah Pierce, born in 1767, was the 5th child and 4th daughter of Litchfield, Connecticut, farmer and potter John Pierce and his wife Mary Paterson. Sarah’s mother died in 1770, and 2 years later her father remarried and had 3 more children.

Sarah Pierce 1767-1852

Her father died in 1783, leaving her brother John Pierce, responsible for his step-mother and 7 younger siblings. During the Revolutionary War, Pierce became the Assistant Paymaster of the army; and after the war, he was named Commissioner of the Army, responsible for settling the army’s debts.

As he prepared to marry, Pierce sent his younger sisters Mary and Sarah to New York City schools specifically to train to become teachers, so that they could help support their step-mother and younger half-siblings. Returning to Litchfield, Sarah Pierce brought a few students with her from New York and established her school. It was a commercial family undertaking. Her sister Mary handled the boarders and the school accounts, while her sister Susan’s husband, James Brace, also taught in the school.

The Litchfield Female Academy was one of a small group of early schools that played a critical role in shaping later educational, social and economic opportunities for women. Over 3000 young ladies attended the school over its 41 year history. From 1792-1833, the Litchfield Female Academy attracted students from 15 states and territories, Canada, Ireland and the West Indies.

Rebecca Couch Mrs James C. Denison 1788-1863 View of Litchfield 1805

In 1792, the school differed little from the large number of small female academies opening throughout the country, especially in the northeastern states. Pierce first offered a limited curriculum of a smattering of English, ancient and European history, geography, arithmetic and composition. Pierce continuously improved and expanded her academic curriculum, offering many subjects rarely available to women, including logic, chemistry, botany, and mathematics.

At the same time, Pierce experimented with innovative ways to unite the academic and ornamental subjects. Students drew and painted maps and made charts of historical events to reinforce geography and history lessons. Students also illustrated poetry, literature, and mythological and biblical readings with elaborate embroideries and detailed watercolor paintings. Botany and natural history lessons were often illustrated with watercolor drawings.

Although primarily interested in a strong academic curriculum, Sarah Pierce knew that teaching the ornamental subjects was critical to the success of her school. In the 18th century, most wealthy parents were willing to invest in a son’s education, because it increased his chances of pursuing a profitable career. For young women, advanced educational opportunities were few, and the ability of their families to pay the high cost of an education became a symbol of wealth.

The decorative paintings and needleworks made by the girls at female academies were hung in their parents' formal parlors as proof of family prosperity. Learning dancing, music, foreign languages, art and other ornamental subjects was also important for those students who wanted to become teachers, start their own academies, or marry well.

Sarah Pierce encouraged her students to become involved in benevolent and charitable societies. The Litchfield Female Academy students organized to support local missionary, bible and tract societies and raised money for the training of ministers.

Two of her students, sisters Catharine Beecher and Harriet Beecher Stowe, wrote books; others became teachers.

Sarah Pierce 1767-1852

Piece never married and died at the age of 83 years old. The Litchfield Enquirer newspaper published an obituary on January 22, 1852 which read "We regret the necessity which compels us to announce the departure from this life of one who has perhaps been more extensively known for a period of sixty years than any other lady in New England. Miss Sarah Pierce died at her residence in this village on Monday morning, the 19th last, at the advanced age of 83 years. In 1792, Miss Pierce established a Female Seminary in this place which, as it was the first institution of the kind in this part of the country required great celebrity and pupils resorted to it from distant States as well as from various parts of our own State. This institution was incorporated by the Legislature of Connecticut under the name of the 'Litchfield Female Academy.' Miss Pierce retired from the institution several years ago and has since lived in quiet enjoyment of an ample fortune, universally respected for her constant piety, systematic benevolence and cheerful hospitality."
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June, 1797, Diary of 11-Year-Old Girl at Litchfield Female Academy

October 15, 2013, 1:00 am
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JULIA COWLES - HER DIARY - June 1797

The Litchfield Female Academy in Connecticut

Julia Cowles was born on 1786 to Zenas Cowles and Mary Lewis Cowles of Farmington, Connecticut. Julia attended the Litchfield Female Academy in 1797. She died unmarried in 1803.

Rebecca Couch Mrs James C. Denison 1788-1863 View of Litchfield 1805

Diary, June 1797


In the eleventh year of her age. To thee I will relate the events of my youth. I will endeavor to excell in learning & correct my faults so that I may be enabled to look backward with pleasure and forward with hope.


Volume 1st

June 26th, 1797. Monday. This day I began my diary in which I shall be sincere in recording my faults, studies & employments. Miss Sally did not keep. I went to St. Johns.

Tuesday 27th, 1797. We read in History. The cabal entered into an alliance with France. The king who had been an enemy with Ormond.

Friday, June 29th, 1797. I cannot recollect any of the History read this day. I have sewed, read in History & painted some.

Saturday, June 30th. 1797. Went to school, told History, sewed some. Miss Sally says that I have been a pretty good girl this week. I have not been offended this week. I have helped Aunt Lewis almost every day this week.

Sunday, June 31st, 1797. Went to meeting all day. Mr. Griffin preached. I do not recollect any of the afternoon sermon to write.

Monday, June 4th, 1797. Independence. We read in History. Prince Orange ascended the throne but was liked by the people as much as before. Miss Sally did not like this History & exchanged it for Rollin's History.

Tuesday June 5th, 1797. The first country (as I recollect) that we read of was Egypt. . .

Thursday June 6th, 1797. I do not recollect any History that we read to day only that there was one Punic war. . . .

Saturday June 8th, 1797. Attended school read in the Economy of Human Life. Sewed some.

Sunday June 9th, 1797. Afternoon attended meeting. P.M. staid at home because it rained. I do not recollect the text.

Monday June 10th, 1797. Attended school told History, sewed some. P.M. spent the afternoon to Miss Pierces.

Tuesday June 11th, 1797. Miss Sally did not keep school. I helped Aunt Lewis almost every day this week back.

Wednesday June 12th, 1797. Attended school, wrote my Journal. We now began the second punic war.

Thursday June 13th, 1797. I do not recollect any of the History read to day only that Hanibal died.

Friday June 14th, 1797. Attended school. We did 'nt read History to day, expected to dance this evening but was disappointed in my expectations.

Saturday June 15th, 1797. Attended school, read in History, but I dont know anything what we read. I dont know as I ever shall again.

Sunday June 16th, 1797. Attended meeting all day but do not recollect the text. read in the Children's Friend.

Monday June 17th, 1797. In the forenoon told History. P.M. Read History. The Carthagenians now preparing for war. the women cut off their hair to make ropes of. . .

Tuesday June 18th, 1797. Attended school, read History. . .

Wednesday June 19th, 1797. Attended school, read History. We have finished 1 volume of Rollin's History. . .

Thursday June 20, 1797. Attended school, going to dance this evening but dont know but I shall be disappointed. . . .

Friday June 21st, 1797. Attended school, read History. Danced last evening, enjoyed the intended pleasure. . .

Saturday June 22, 1797. Attended school, we did 'nt tell History to day. I have helped Aunt Lewis almost every day this week. Miss Sally says I have been a pretty good girl this week.

Sunday June 23, 1797. Attended meeting. Mr. Hooker preached. I dont know where the text was.

Monday June 23, 1797. Attended school, told History, sewed on my shawl.

Tuesday June 24, 1797. Did 'nt attend school to day. I helped Aunt Lewis all day.

Wednesday June 25th, 1797. Aunt Lewis has gone to Farmington to day. Attended school, read History. We read the death of Cyrus. His son Cambyses succeeded him.

Thursday June 26, 1797. Attended school forenoon painted. I dont know a word of the History. P.M. I stayed at home.

Friday June 27, 1797. Attended school, read History. . .

Saturday June 28th, 1797. Aunt Lewis is expected home to day. Attended school worked on my shawl. Miss Sally says I have been a pretty good girl this week.

John Warner Barber (1798-1885) Litchfield South East View from Chestnut Hill from Connecticut Historical Collections. 1837

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Despite bigamy, alcoholism, & bad debts, Ralph Earl paints some fairly spectacular portraits of Early American Women

October 15, 2013, 2:00 am
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Ralph Earl was born on a prosperous farm in Massachusettes on May 11, 1751. Ralph was named after his father, who as a large landowner was active in community affairs & an officer in the local militia.

1785 Ralph Earl (1751-1801) Martha Spear (Mrs. John Johnston)

Ralph & his brother James(1761–1796), who was 10 years younger, both became artists, as did his son Ralph E. W. Earl(c 1785-8 – 1838).

1787 Ralph Earl (1751-1801). Mrs. James Duane.

Ralph Earl was traveling as an itinerant artist in 1774, when he returned home to marry his 2nd cousin Sarah Gates, with whom he eventually produced 3 children.

1787 Ralph Earl (1751-1801). Mrs. Alexander Hamilton.

Earl went back on the road soon after the wedding ceremony; and he & his wife lived apart much of the time, as he traveled from town to town painting. She delivered their first child at the home of her parents a few months after their marriage.

1789 Ralph Earl (1751-1801). Clarissa Seymour (Mrs. Truman Marsh).

While trying to establish himself in New Haven, he met painter Henry Pelham, the half brother of John Singleton Copley. When visiting Pelham in Boston in March 1775, Earl admired the works Copley had left behind when he moved to England.

1789 Ralph Earl (1751-1801). Esther Boardman.

Years later in the Hampshire Gazette, Northampton, Massachusettes, March 5, 1800, Earl would claim that he had "received the last and finishing strokes of his art from the hands of the immortal Reynolds, West and Copley." As of now, no evidence has been found that he studied under either Joshua Reynolds or John Singleton Copley.

1789 Ralph Earl (1751-1801). Mariann Wolcott.

As the war neared, Earl refused to serve in the local militia & narrowly escaped prison for refusing to pay taxes to support the American Revolution.

1790 Ralph Earl (1751-1801). Sarah Tucker.

Earl’s wife joined him in New Haven in November, 1776, and they lived there until May, 1777. This 6 month period, Sarah attested after Earl's death, "was all the time we kept house together."

1790 Ralph Earl (1751-1801). Mary Smith Booth.

In April, 1777, Earl & several others were accused in the Connecticut Journal as being "friends of George the third and would not take up arms against him or his troops." Their behavior was called a "glaring instance of treason."

1790 Ralph Earl (1791-1801). Jerusha Benedict (Ives).

Earl escaped to England disguised as a servant of English quartermaster general, John Money. His wife Sarah stayed behind with their three children & began living with her parents again.

1794 Ralph Earl (1751-1801). Huldah Bradley.

From 1778 to 1785, Earl painted throughout the English provinces, studied with Pennsylvania expatriate artist Benjamin West, and exhibited at the Royal Academy, although he never became a member.

1796 Ralph Earl (1751-1801). Apphia Ruggles (Mrs. Jared Lane).

He wrote to Englishman Dr. Joseph Trumbull, a Worcester County apothecary whose portrait he had painted, "...the picture Which I have began and finished scince You was heir is the best that eaver I painted, I intend to offer it to Copely to coppey for his improvement." Like John Singleton Copley, Ralph Earl did not lack in ego or the clever knack for self-promotion.

1798 Ralph Earl (1751-1801). Mary Schenck (Mrs. Elijah Dewey).

After the dust of war settled, Earl returned to Boston in 1785, with a new English wife, Ann Whiteside (1762–1826), who would bear him a son and a daughter within the next 3 years. His arrival in Boston was announced in both the Salem Massachusettes Gazette on May 24, 1785, and in Thomas’s Massachusetts Spy, Or, the Worcester Gazette on May 26, 1785. This may have surprised his American wife Sarah, the mother of his first 3 children, from whom he was not divorced.

1793 Ralph Earl (1751-1801). Ann Whiteside (1762-1826) (Mrs. Ralph Earl)

For the next 6 months he traveled with his new wife to New York by way of Providence and New London, where he tarried to paint a few portraits.

1794 Ralph Earl (1751-1801). Lucy Bradley.

When he arrived in New York in October, he advertised in the Independent Journal or the General Advertiser, New York, November 2, 1785, that he intended to paint for clients "in this City, where a specimen of his abilities may be seen on calling at Mr. Rivington’s, No. 1, Queen-Street."

1794 Ralph Earl (1751-1801). Mrs Charles Jeffery Smith.

Within the year, Earl became involved in several lawsuits that sent him to debtors’ lockup in the New York City Jail from September, 1786, to January, 1788, where he was encouraged to continue painting. During this period his wife and small children had to fend for themselves, while Earl painted portraits of several notable New Yorkers including Mrs. Alexander Hamilton. His portrait commissions were held in a trust until his release.

1795 Ralph Earl (1751-1801). Sarah Perry (Mrs. David Hubbell).

When he was freed, he continued painting portraits of patrons in New York as well as Fairfield, Greenfield Hill, Hartford, Litchfield, Middletown, New Milford, Norwich, & Stamford, Connecticut. He painted his subjects in familiar local landscapes or surrounded by possessions and wares that were part of their everday lives. Like Copley, he could concoct fashionable costumes for the status-conscious gentry and comfortably portray the more conservative styles of his rural clients.

1798 Ralph Earl(1751-1801). Elizabeth Eliot (Mrs. Gershom Burr).

His paintings became well known. The Litchfield Weekly Monitor of June 21, 1790, carried a notice (which Earl may have written and paid for) reprinted in the Columbian Centinel in Boston on June 30, 1790.

Ralph Earl (1751-1801) Mrs. Ebenezer Porter (Lucy Patty Pierce Merwin)

To the Patrons of the Fine Arts
The Portrait Paintings by Mr. RALPH EARL, in this town, do him honor as an American, and as an artist of great taste and ingenuity—Connoisseurs in this truly noble and refined art, pronounce several of his performances the most masterly every exhibited in the United States. Mr. Earl was pupil to the celebrated West; and acquired great reputation in London by his Pencil;—and possessing a lively imagination, and pure talent in the principles of his profession, we cannot doubt, and hope, that in this age of refinement, the "well-born and well-bred" of his countrymen will patronize him in the road to Fame.

1796 Ralph Earl (1751-1801) Mrs. Sherman Boardman (Sarah Bostwick)

After his stint in debtor's prison, Ralph Earl spent 3 years painting commissions in New York City and 13 years working throughout Connecticut, New York, Massachusetts, and Vermont.

1792 Ralph Earl (1751-1801) Mrs. Richard Alsop

The surviving account books of his client Jared Lane of New Milford, indicate that at least some patrons paid for Earl's supplies, room, and board, as well as for the portraits themselves.

1792 Ralph Earl (1751-1801) Mrs Joseph Wright

In 1798, either Earl or his 2nd wife decided stop moving the family from town to town in search of painting prospects. She and their daughter settled permanently in Troy, New York, as he continued to travel throughout New England painting. Earl's son Ralph E. W. stayed with his father to learn the art.

1791 Ralph Earl (1751-1801) Mrs John Watson

Unlike earlier 18th century colonial painters, Earl was receiving commissions to paint both portraits & landscapes in the new Republic. People might chose to have their portraits painted at some milestone in their lives such as a marriage or the birth of a child. Others clients might chose to have a painting of their new house in town or set in a broad landscape perspective or of their shop or of the gardens surrounding their home.

1790 Ralph Earl (1751-1801) Mrs Nathaniel Taylor

In 1800, accounts of Earl's goal to paint a nearly 30' long landscape panorama of Niagara Falls with Hezekiah Hutchens, an amateur artist, and Jacob Wicker, an ornamental painter, appeared in newspapers in Northampton, Worcester, Litchfield, Baltimore, and far away Charleston, South Carolina. They accomplished the physically challenging adventure, and the huge landscape painting generated publicity for Earl.

1792 Ralph Earl (1751-1801) Oliver & Abigail Wolcott Ellsworth

But soon after, at age 50, Ralph Earl died in Bolton, Connecticut, on August 16, 1801. In a diary which still exists at the Connecticul Historical Society, a local minister The Reverend Mr. George Colton recorded the cause of Earl's death as "intemperance."
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1796 Diary of 16-Year-Old Student at Litchfield Female Academy

October 16, 2013, 1:00 am
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Rebecca Couch Mrs James C. Denison 1788-1863 View of Litchfield 1805

Charlotte Sheldon was a pupil in Miss Pierce's school in the early days of its existence. She was the daughter of Dr. Daniel Sheldon, of Litchfield, & his 1st wife, a Miss Judson, of Washington, Connecticut, who died in 1784 leaving 2 children, Charlotte & Daniel, who became Secretary of Legation with Albert Gallatin at the court of France. Charlotte was born in 1780, & was a "monster in learning," as her French teacher quaintly expressed it.  Being a subscriber to Sarah Pierce's Female Academy it is not surprising that in 1796, & again in 1802 Dr. Sheldon had his daughter Charlotte educated at the school.  When about 17 years of age, she became an invalid & died in Hartford, Connecticut about 1840. From a diary she kept in the summer of 1796, when she was just 16, the following entries give a view of her studies.

Litchfield Female Academy in Connecticut

The 1796 Diary of Charlotte Sheldon

Tuesday May 10th, 1796: the weather was so rainy this morning that I did not expect to set out for Hartford. so I sat down to my knitting and learnt a very good song called "The Mill Clapper," of Philo Roberts. It cleared off this afternoon so we sat off we had some rain but at night it cleared off beautifully. The air was finely perfumed with the shad and appletree blossoms. I arrived at Farmington just at dark and stopt at Mr. Wadsworth's tavern Mrs. Beardsley was over there and invited us to Dr. Tods there we directed our march. Tho. I had much rather have staid at Mr. Wadsworths for I was very little acquainted with Mrs Beardsley and was muddied from top to toe. Very soon after I got there I went to bed.

Wednesday May 11th, 1796: rose rather late staid till about 10 and then sat out for Hartford. found the riding very bad over the clay hills got to Hartford about noon dined at uncle Sheldons unpacked my things, went up to Aunt Hopkins went a shopping. Hardly knew what to do with myself amid so much noise and confusion, returned to uncle Sheldons.

Thursday May 12th, 1796: election day was ushered in with rain. I ironed out my gown and some such little matters. dressed myself dined at uncle Sheldons. then went in his carriage up to Uncle Hopkins. Tho I spent part of the forenoon in seeing people go by, I found Wealthy Morgan at my aunts I think her much improved since I saw her last, spent the evening in singing, etc., with Becca and Nancy.

Friday May 13th, 1796: read in the Moral Tales, tho' I think them rather immoral, dressed and went to uncle Sheldons intended to have taken a ride but aunt Hopkins sent word to us that a Miss Mather was there Polly Bull. and Sally Trumbull. spent the forenoon and evening Harriet Butler Betsey Woodbridge and Miss Fanning called. There was a swing up garret and behold we went to swinging Daniel and Mr Talcott spent the evening. I like Sally Trumbull. I think her a very pretty girl.

Saturday May 14th, 1796: To day Becca and I took our long wished for ride, we went as far as Wethersfield Folly we went down to Aunt Woodbridge's in the afternoon and drank tea there, we went to the new Court house, it is the most elegant building I ever saw the portico is very pleasant read partly thro " Nanine " one of Voltaires plays.

Sunday May 15th, 1796: Finished "Nanine." went to church in the afternoon it is a very handsome building we heard a flute and bass viol which Becca and I mistook for an organ quite a laughable mistake dressed took a walk down to Uncle Sheldons.

Monday May 16th, 1796: Washed and ironed almost all day went a shopping. read in Buffon's Natural History. It has a great number of cuts in it and is very entertaining. I should like to read the whole of it sung etc., etc.,

Tuesday May 17th, 1796: Ironed almost all the forenoon mended some stockings, dressed, went with Becca down to uncle Sheldons, Aunt was gone down to Mr. Joe Sheldons thither we directed our march and took a very pleasant walk with her to the point where the great and little rivers meet returned and drank tea at Uncle Sheldons staid all night.

Wednesday May 18th, 1796: It rained so that we couldn't return to Aunt Hopkins. made cousin Mary a baby, she is a sweet little girl, read there an abridgement of Sir Charles Grandison

Thursday May 19th, 1796: Becca and I waded up to Aunts thro' the mud drew a picture for Nancy & painted it in the afternoon Mrs. Fish, Emily Stilman & Julia Root spent at Aunts Emily staid in the evening I am very much pleased with her.

Friday May 20th, 1796: Sat out for home, found the roading very bad. Rode as far as Mr Lewis's at Farmington dined there & staid two hours. Mrs. Beardsley sent Stella over for us, Daniel & I went over, & we concluded to stay all night. Heard Mrs Beardsley & Miss Polly Tod play on the Forte Piano, read in Helen Maria Williams letters, read in Lavater & looked at the Heads, took a walk with Miss Sally Beardsley over to the Lewis's, returned to Dr. Tods played button & went to bed very early.

Saturday May 21st, 1796: Sat out again for home found the roading better than I expected, got home about four o'clock went to Miss Sally's(Pierce) to carry a letter my face was so burned, I was ashamed to make my appearance any where felt tired & lazy.

Sunday May 22nd, 1796: Went in the forenoon to meeting. read in the American magazine & in the European magazine Miss Pierce's girls spent the evening at our house & Sally l & Julia Tracy.

Monday May 23rd, 1796: Helped about the house all the forenoon went a shopping with the girls & read history at school got tea & washed the cups knit the rest of the evening.

Tuesday May 24th, 1796: Read & wrote to the 30th page of the history knit sewed one of the tags of the fringe onto my cloak

Wednesday May 25th, 1796: Went to school & did what I commonly do there got above 4 in spelling ironed some Vandykes,2 etc., etc.,

Thursday May 26th, 1796: Studied geography at school felt very indolent, laughed & gaped the greatest part of the time, knit, finished my short gown.

Friday May 27th, 1796: Began to alter my muslin into a robe which is the most fashionable dress in Hartford read history took a run up to Miss Pierces & Mrs. Tracy's, etc.,

Saturday May 28th, 1796: Sewed on my gown all day, wrote all the evening.

Sunday May 29th, 1796: Attended meeting all day, heard two very indifferent sermons, read in the American Magazine found many good things in it & among the rest an extract from Mrs. Yearsley's poem on the slave trade, took a walk down to the brook it was too cool to be very agreeable walking finished my gown in the evening.1

Monday May 30th, 1796: Washed almost all the forenoon, sewed, began to work the edges of some ruffles

Tuesday May 31st, 1796: Starched my gown and hung it to dry, sewed, Persuer of these pages, know that I, the author of them, am not very well versed in polite literature, thou must expect to find, a dry, uninteresting, inaccurate, parcel of sentences, jumbled together in a hand hardly intelligible — this is no news perchance thou wilt say —

Wednesday, June 1st, 1796: We are once more blessed with a prospect of good weather, ironed almost all the forenoon, sat some ruffles on to my gown, went a shopping, bought me a comb, mended some of my cloaths went to school, & did what I usually do there. All Mrs Tracy's family spent the afternoon here Mrs Tracy is a charming woman, she has a family of the loveliest children I ever saw, Mr Gould & Miss Mira Canfield spent the afternoon & evening I liked Mr. Gould very much.

Thursday June 2nd, 1796: Cleaned my chamber, sewed, read in the American Magazine, wrote a letter to Fanny Smith tho I shall not send it to her, was inattentive & got to the foot in spelling, took a walk with the girls, & got wintergreen & honeysuckle, had a very agreeable walk, came home & dressed my hat with honeysuckle & ground pine.

Friday June 3rd, 1796: Sewed almost all the morning, studied a geography lesson, & recited it, dressed & went to Holmes where I spent the afternoon very agreeably spent the afternoon & evening at Dr. Smiths there was a very large circle there.

Saturday June 4th, 1796: Went to school, wrote a curious epistle to Sally Tracy, wrote a letter to Fauny Smith & copied it, read in Goldsmiths animated Nature went to the stores 3 times, sewed on my short gown,

Sunday June 5th, 1796: Attended meeting all day, read in Goldsmiths Animated Nature, I like it very much, many parts of it are quite interesting took a run in the garden sewed all the evening.

Monday June 6th, 1796: Assisted about house all the forenoon went to school, hemmed my shawl all round thought some of going to Mr. Bowles in the evening, but concluded not to go.

Tuesday June 7th, 1796: Bought a skein of silk & wound it hemmed accross two sides of my shawl, button hole stitch, studied spelling, sewed all the evening.

Wednesday June 8th, 1796: Worked on my shawl, read partly thro' the Dangers of the world aloud to Sally Tracy read in Coxes travels, I will give a short abridgement from his history of the Poles, [The first era of the History like that of all other European nations is involved in obscurity. The government was formerly almost an absolute monarchy; but the king continued to grant priviliges to the nobles, untill they became almost independent, for the king had no other power left, except the triffling one of confering titles, the kingdom was very much divided by religious factions. The Dissidents & Papists maintained warm quarrels], got tea, helped clear away the table, had the pleasure of seeing Aunt Hopkins, Becca, & Nancy, Miss Sally & Polly Pierce spent the evening at our house.

Thursday June 9th, 1796: Aunt & family departed for Watertown this morning, drew some patterns, worked on my shawl, studied a lesson in Guthrie we got partly through France it is bounded on the North. . . . Finished reading the Dangers of the world read in Coxes travels. [The Russians & other foreign nations fomented the quarrels that existed in Poland. . . .] Assisted mammy, went up to Miss Pierce's & borrowed the Robbers, read partly through it. it is an excellent tragedy. The character of Amelia is rather inconsistent in my opinion.

Friday June 9th, 1796: Finished the Robbers, the scene in which Charles de Moore discovers his father in a ruined tower is perfect in my opinion, Worked on my shawl, read in Coxes travels, Read partly thro the Truly wise man. Read in Goldsmiths Animated Nature.

Saturday June l0, 1796: Worked on my shawl, Read the English merchant, a very good comedy. Read in the World. Went down to the store. Helped get tea.

Sunday June 11th, 1796: It is quite cold and unpleasant to-day; attended meeting all day, Spent the evening at Miss Pierces.

Monday June 12th, 1796: Washed a little. Worked on my shawl. Went down to the store with the girls. Dressed the flower pots. We had company in the afternoon & evening, several gentlemen were at our house in the evening.

Tuesday June 13th, 1796: Wrote a letter, Read in Coxes travels; worked on my shawl, sewed all the evening.

Wednesday June 14th, 1796: Learned a grammer lesson. Read the story of the Highlander & partly thro Sophron & Tigranes. Went down in the lot & got wintergreen, got supper.

Thursday June 15th, 1796: Worked on my shawl. Studied a grammer lesson, parsed, Read in the World, knit, Read partly thro Macbeth one of Shakespears best tragedies.

Friday June 16th, 1796: Sewed. Went to school. Read in Cox. parsed. Went down to get wintergreen. Worked on my shawl. Went to strawberrying. Heard some very good music a flute & violin. It is a most beautiful evening, took a walk as far as the corner.

Saturday June 17th, 1796: Sewed. Parsed. Began to read the Recess, a very good novel. It is founded on the idea that Mary Queen of Scots was privately married to the Duke of Norfolk & had two daughters Ellinor & Matilda who are the heroines of the novel, they were educated in the Recess which was several rooms in an Abbey unknown but to three persons. Matilda was married to the Duke of Leicester who took shelter in the Recess from assassins. Took a walk. Read again in the Recess.

Sunday June 18th, 1796: Read again in the Recess. I have finished the first volume. Attended meeting all day, wasn't very much edified. Took a walk with Sally Tracy & Mr. Gould went almost to the mill, had a very agreeable one. Heard some very good music after I got home. Mr. Tod, Mr. Holmes & Miss Polly Collins besides several others spent the evening here, it is a very pleasant evening.

Monday June 19th, 1796: Helped about house, knit. Parsed. Read in Coxes travels, read in the Recess to Sally Tracy & mammy After school dressed me and went to Mrs Lords where I spent the afternoon & evening

Tuesday June 20th, 1796: Washed, Cleaned my chamber, finished my shawl, washed and ironed it . The colors don't fade. Helped get supper. Stewed some currants. Learn't one or two verses in a song, spent the evening at Captains Catlins.

Wednesday June 21st, 1796: Went to the Braces & helped clean the room to dance in, Which took almost all the forenoon Went down in the lot after bushes & fixed up the room Dressed & danced in the evening, had a pretty agreeable ball.

Thursday June 22nd, 1796: Parsed, Sewed. Went to strawberrying with Fanny Pierpont, found a good many.

Friday June 23rd, 1796: Put my closet to rights. Had an invitation to the ball, spent the rest of the day in fixing my things. Went to the ball, had a very agreeable one. Came home in the morning.

Saturday June 24th, 1796: Felt pretty dull, Read the second volume in the Recess, the language was pretty good, I like this volume better than the first, Tho I think it is not possible, that any person could suffer as many misfortunes as Ellinor & Matilda, I like the character of Ellinor better than that of Matilda. there is something very interesting in her character, I wanted to have it end happily. Went a strawberrying with Susan Bird.

Sunday June 25th, 1796: Read all the forenoon, Attended meeting in the afternoon, heard a very poor sermon. Read in the history of Spain, I think it a very good one, I do not know the name of the author. Picked a large basket of roseleaves.

Monday June 26th, 1796: Washed a little etc., Made a half handkerchief, took a walk up to Captain Stantons. Read in the history of Spain translated to the 15th page in Rousseau's Emelias. Drew a rose, Read in the history of Spain in the evening.

Tuesday 27th, 1796: Parsed. Sewed. Studied spelling. Spent the afternoon at Mrs. Demings. Walked up as far as Captain Catlins.

Wednesday June 28th, 1796: Fixed up my hat. knit. Drew a landscape. Parsed. Read in the world. Went after straw berries.

Thursday June 29th, 1796: Knit. Parsed. Studied spelling.

Friday July 1st, 1796: Sewed. Studied a parsing lesson. Parsed. Went twice down to Mr. Shetaters, to buy pendals. Had my ears bored, not a very agreeable operation, knit Read in Coxes travels. got tea, stewed some currants. Took a walk as far as Mrs Lords.

Saturday July 2nd, 1796: Read in the World. Sewed.

Sunday July 3rd, 1796: Attended meeting in the forenoon & read in the Recess & in the World in the afternoon Took a run up to Miss Pierces.

Monday July 4th, 1796: Felt doubtful about going to the ball. Went over to Mrs. Holmes of an errand. Studied a parsing lesson. Parsed. knit, concluded to go to the ball, fixed my things to go. Went down to the Store Dressed & went to the ball, had a very good one.

Tuesday July 5th, 1796: Felt rather sleepy, Knit, Washed out the bottom of my gown. Parsed. borrowed the Transition of a Moment. I like it pretty well, tho it is not equal to the Recess. read in it till about 10 o'clock.

Wednesday July 6th, 1796: Finished reading the "Transition of a Moment." Heard the news of Polly Buel's death, sewed at school. Parsed. Fixed my things to wear to the funeral. Dressed & went. There was quite a large concourse of people. felt rather tired.

Friday July 8th, 1796: Riped my gown which I am going to have altered. Picked some green peas. Parsed. Took a ride. a very agreeable one. Drank tea at Mrs Phelps on Chestnut Hill, got home at sun down,

Saturday July 9th, 1796: Read in the Citizen of the World, picked currants, sat the table for tea. Read in the Herald. Went up to Miss Pierces of an errand.

Sunday July 10th, 1796: Attended meeting all day. felt quite sorry to see all Mr Buel's people, racked & tortured, by a cruel sermon & prayer, were a great many people at meeting. Miss Naby Lewis came to our house after meeting.

Monday July 11th, 1796: Sewed. Read partly thro Romeo & Juliet. Read in Othello.

Tuesday July 12th, 1796: Took a walk in the garden, Wrote a scrumptious letter to Sally Tracy. Parsed. Wrote copy hand. read in Coxes travels.

Wednesday August 7th, 1796: Washed all the forenoon. Went down to the store, & over to Mr. Smiths, ironed out some calico, swept the school room, Picked currants & gooseberrys for tea.

Thursday August 8th, 1796: Ironed my gown, cleaned my chamber, Studied a parsing lesson. Partly learned the words to a song. Picked currants. Wrote copy hand. Parsed. Read in Coxes travels, Partly learned a tune.

Friday August 9th, 1796: Sewed. Parsed. Went over to Dr Smiths tried on my gown, stayed part of the afternoon, Read in Coxes travels, chose sides, Mrs Lord drank tea at our house, Went up to Miss Pierces of an errand.

Saturday August 16th, 1796: Went over to Dr. Smiths & tried on my gown Heard Miss Nabby read in Julia de Roubigne. Ironed about two hours. Went over to Dr. Smiths

Sunday August 17th, 1796: Attended meeting all day. Heard two excellent sermons preched by Rev. Mr. Hooker Read in the Female Spectator. Took a walk.

Monday August 18th, 1796: Washed a little. & helped about house Parsed. Read in Coxes travels. Got tea. Picked currants. Went over to Dr. Smiths. Spent the evening at Miss Pierces. Heard some very good music after I got home.

Tuesday August 19th, 1796: Went up to Miss Pierces of an errand Doubled some yarn, Studied grammar, Read in Coxes travels. I think this a better opportunity than commonly occurs, to find out the manners of a people,

Wednesday August 20th, 1796: Sewed. Read in the Mirror, The Story of La Roche is excellent. He makes an excellent prayer on the loss of his daughter. The description of his situation is beautiful. Read in Coxes travels. Studied grammar. Drew. Heard some very good music.

Thursday August 22nd, 1796: Read in the Mirror. Had a pair of gloves cut out, began to make them. Marked a pair of pillow bears. Read in Coxes travel Spent the afternoon very agreeably at Mrs. Tracys Walked down as far as Mr Ozias Lewis's & back again.

Friday August 23rd, 1796: Sewed on my gloves, Studied grammar. We had company at our house this afternoon, Spent the evening at Miss Pierces.

Saturday August 24th, 1796: Read in Knox's essays, I like them very well. Sewed on my gloves, worked the back of another pair.

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Lucy Sheldon Beach 1788-1889 & the role of Art at Litchfield Academy

October 17, 2013, 1:00 am
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Lucy Sheldon Beach 1788-1889  by Anson Dickinson (1779-1852) 1831


Lucy Sheldon Beach, daughter of Daniel & Huldah Stone Sheldon of Litchfield, Connecticut, was born June 27, 1788. From 1801 until 1803, Lucy was educated at the Litchfield Female Academy. In 1832 she married Theron Beach (1785-1864), a physician, as his second wife. None of their children survived. At some point in the mid-1800s, Elizbeth Prince Child, Lucy's first cousin once removed (Elizabeth was the granddaughter of Lucy's aunt Dothe Stone Cutler (1756-1805), moved in with her. She inherited her father's house on North Street (now called the Sheldon House) living there for her entire adult life. Lucy passed away on April 7, 1889 at the age of 100 years.

Litchfield Student Rebecca Couch Mrs James C. Denison 1788-1863 View of Litchfield 1805

At the Litchfield Academy, Sarah Pierce experimented with innovative ways to unite the academic & ornamental subjects. Students drew & painted maps & made charts of historical events to reinforce geography & history lessons.  Students also illustrated poetry, literature, & mythological & biblical readings with elaborate embroideries & detailed watercolor paintings. Botany & natural history lessons often were illustrated with watercolor drawings.

Although primarily interested in a strong academic curriculum, Sarah Pierce knew that teaching the ornamental subjects was critical to the success of her school. In the 18th century, most wealthy parents were willing to invest in a son’s education because it increased his chances of pursuing a profitable career. For young women the ability of their families to pay the high cost of an education became a symbol of wealth. The decorative paintings & needleworks made by the girls at female academies were hung in formal parlors as proof of family prosperity. Learning dancing, music, foreign languages, art & other ornamental subjects was also important for those students who wanted to become teachers or start their own academies, as no school for young women would be successful without them.


Hop Picking by Litchfield Student Lucy Sheldon Beach


The Sailor Boy by Litchfield Student Lucy Sheldon Beach


Litchfield Student Rebecca Couch Mrs James C. Denison 1788-1863 Connecticut House


Litchfield Student Rebecca Couch Mrs James C. Denison 1788-1863  Flora 1803


Litchfield Student Orra Sophronia Sears Mrs. Edwin Cooke (1798-1872) View of Earl of Burlington's House at Chiswick 1816


Lucy Sheldon Beach 1875


John Warner Barber (1798-1885) Litchfield South East View from Chestnut Hill from Connecticut Historical Collections. 1837


See:

"Beach, Lucy Sheldon (Mrs. Theron) 1802-1803 Journal" (Archives, Litchfield Historical Society).

1802 Litchfield Female Academy Catalog (Vanderpoel, Emily Noyes. Chronicles of A Pioneer School From 1792 To 1833. Cambridge, MA: The University Press, 1903).

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Nancy Hart 1735-1830 "Poor Nancy-she was a honey of a patriot, but the devil of a wife!"

October 18, 2013, 1:00 am
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Historical Collections of Georgia
George White 1802-1887
Pudney & Russell, 1855 - Georgia

Georgia's most acclaimed female participant during the Revolutionary War (1775-83) was Nancy Hart (1735-1830).  Nothing about Nancy Morgan is known to be absolute fact.  She may have been born in Orange County, North Carolina, in 1735.  By 1854, The Rev. George White had gathered enough tales of her patriotism & strength to post the following stories in his history of Georgia. 

Original image from Historical Collections of Georgia

"The Story of Nancy Hart

"The following sketch of this extraordinary woman, which originally appeared in the Yorkville (S. C.) Pioneer, is believed to be the first account of her that ever found its way to the public:

"Nancy Hart & her husband settled before the Revolutionary War a few miles above the ford on Broad River, in Elbert County, Georgia. An apple orchard still remains to point out the spot.

"In altitude, Mrs. Hart was a Patagonian, & remarkably well-limbed & muscular. In a word, she was "lofty & sour." Marked by nature with prominent features, circumstances & accident added, perhaps, not a little to her peculiarities. She was horribly cross-eyed, as well as cross-grained; but, nevertheless, she was a sharp-shooter. Nothing was more common than to see her in full pursuit of the bounding stag. The huge antlers that hung round her cabin, or upheld her trusty gun, gave proof of her skill in gunnery; & the white comb, drained of its honey & hung up for ornament, testified her powers in bee-finding.

"Many can testify to her magical art in the mazes of cookery— being able to get up a pumpkin in as many forms as there are days in the week. She was extensively known & employed for her profound knowledge in the management of all ailments.

"But she was most remarkable for her military feats. She professed high-toned ideas of liberty. Not even the marriage knot could restrain her on that subject. Like the "wife of Bath," she received over her tongue-scourged husband.  "The reins of absolute command,  With all the government of house & land,  And empire o'er his tongue, & o'er his hand."  The clouds of war gathered, & burst with a dreadful explosion in this State. Nancy's spirit rose with the tempest. She declared & proved herself a friend to her country, ready "to do or die."

"All accused of Whiggism had to hide or swing. The lily-livered Mr. Hart was not the last to seek safety in the cane-brake with his neighbours. They kept up a prowling, skulking kind of life, occasionally sallying forth in a sort of predatory style. The Tories at length however, gave Mrs. Hart a call, & in true soldier manner ordered a repast. Nancy soon had the necessary materials for a good feast spread before them. The smoking venison, the hasty hoe-cake, & the fresh honeycomb, were sufficient to have provoked the appetite of a gorged epicure! They simultaneously stacked their arms & seated themselves, when, quick as thought, the dauntless Nancy seized one of the guns, cocked it, & with a blazing oath declared she would blow out the brains of the first mortal that offered to rise, or taste a mouthful! They all knew her character too well to imagine that she would say one thing & do another.

"Go," said she to one of her sons, "and tell the Whigs that I have taken six base Tories." They sat still, each expecting to be offered up, with doggedly mean countenances, bearing the marks of disappointed revenge, shame, & unappeased hunger.

"Whether the incongruity between Nancy's eyes caused each to imagine himself her immediate object, or whether her commanding attitude, stern & ferocious fixture of countenance, overawed them; or the powerful idea of their non-soldierlike conduct unnerved them; or the certainty of death, it is not easy to determine. They were soon relieved, & dealt with according to the rules of the times.

"This heroine lived to see her country free. She, however, found game & bees decreasing, & the country becoming old so fast, that she sold out her possessions, in spite of the remonstrances of her husband, & was " among the first of the pioneers who paved the way to the wilds of the West."
Nancy Hart's Georgia log house

"The following, from Mrs. Ellet's " Women of the Revolution," will be read with interest, although it does not coincide exactly with the Yorkville account :  "In this county is a stream, formerly known as "War-woman's Creek." Its name was derived from the character of an individual who lived near the entrance of the stream into the river. This person was Nancy Hart, a woman ignorant of letters & the civilities of life, but a zealous lover of liberty & the "liberty boys," as she called the Whigs. She had a husband, whom she denominated "a poor stick," because he did not take a decided & active part with the defenders of his country, although she could not conscientiously charge him with the least partiality towards the Tories. This vulgar & illiterate, but hospitable & valorous female patriot, could boast no share of beauty—a fact she herself would have readily acknowledged, had she ever enjoyed an opportunity of looking in a mirror. She was cross-eyed, with a broad, angular mouth, ungainly in figure, rude in speech, & awkward in manners, but having a woman's heart for her friends, though that of a Catrine Montour for the enemies of her country. She was well known to the Tories, who stood in fear of her revenge for any grievance or aggressive act, though they let pass no opportunity of worrying & annoying her, when they could do so with impunity.

"On the occasion of an excursion from the British camp at Augusta, a party of Tories penetrated into the interior, & having savagely murdered Colonel Dooly in bed, in his own house, they proceeded up the country for the purpose of perpetrating further atrocities. On their way, a detachment of five of the party diverged to the east, & crossed Broad River, to make discoveries about the neighbourhood, & pay a visit to their old acquaintance, Nancy Hart. On reaching her cabin, they entered it unceremoniously, receiving from her no welcome but a scowl; & informed her they had come to know the truth of a story current respecting her, that she had secreted a noted rebel from a company of King's men who were pursuing him, & who, but for her aid, would have caught & hung him. Nancy undauntedly avowed her agency in the fugitive's escape. She told them she had at first heard the tramp of a horse rapidly approaching, & had then seen a horseman coming towards her cabin. As he came nearer, she knew him to be a Whig, & flying from pursuit. She let down the bars a few steps from her cabin, & motioned him to enter, to pass through both doors, front & rear, of her sinfle-roomed house; to take the swamp, & secure himself as well as e could. She then put up the bars, entered her cabin, closed the doors, & went about her business. Presently some Tories rode up to the bars, & called out boisterously to her. She muffled her head & face, & opening the door, inquired why they disturbed a sick, lone woman. They said they had traced a man they wanted to catch, near her house, & asked if any one on horseback had passed that way. She answered no, but said she saw somebody on a sorrel horse turn out of the path into the woods some two or three hundred yards back. "That must be the fellow," said the Tories; & asking her direction as to the way he took, they turned about & went off. "Well fooled!" said Nancy, " in an opposite course to that of my Whig boy; when, if they had not been so lofty-minded, but had looked on the ground inside the bars, they would have seen his horse's tracks up to that door, as plain as you can see the tracks on this here floor, & out of t'other door down the path to the swamp."

"This bold story did not much please the Tory party, but they could not wreak their revenge upon the woman who thus unscrupulously avowed her daring aid to a rebel, & the cheat she had put upon his pursuers, otherwise than by ordering her to aid & comfort them by giving them something to eat. She replied, " I never feed King's men if I can help it; the villains have put it out of my power to feed even my own family & friends, by stealing & killing all my poultry & pigs, except that one old gobbler you see in the yard."

"Well, & that you shall cook for us," said one, who appeared the head of the party; & raising his musket, he shot down the turkey, which another of the men brought into the house, & handed to Mrs. Hart, to clean & cook without delay. She stormed & swore awhile—for Nancy occasionally swore—but seeming, at last, resolved to make a merit of necessity, began with alacrity the arrangements for cooking, assisted by her daughter, a little girl some ten or twelve years old, & sometimes by one of the soldiers, with whom she seemed in a tolerably good humour, exchanging rude jests with him. The Tories, pleased with her freedom, invited her to partake of the liquor they had brought with them, an invitation which was accepted with witty thanks.

"The spring, of which every settlement has one near at hand, was just at the edge of the swamp, & a short distance within it was a high, snag-topped stump, on which was placed a conch-shell. This rude trumpet was used by the family to give information, by means of a variation of notes, to Mr. Hart, or his neighbours, who might be at work in a field or clearing just beyond the swamp, that the "Britishers" or Tories were about; that the master was wanted at the cabin, or that he was to " keep close," or " make tracks" for another swamp. Pending the operations of cooking, Mrs. Hart had sent her daughter, Sukey, to the spring for water, with directions to blow the conch in such a way as would inform him that there were Tories in the cabin, & that he should "keep close," with his three neighbours who were with him, till he heard the conch again.

"The party had become merry over their jug, & sat down to feast upon the slaughtered gobbler. They had cautiously stacked their arms where they were in view, & within reach, & Mrs. Hart, assiduous in her attentions upon the table, & to her guests, occasionally passed between them & their muskets. Water was called for, & as there was none in the cabin—Mrs. Hart having so contrived that—Sukey was again sent to the spring, instructed by her mother to blow the conch so as to call up Mr. Hart & his neighbours immediately. Meanwhile, Mrs. Hart had slipped out one of the pieces of pine which constitutes a " chinking" between the logs of a cabin, & had dexterously put out of the house, through that space, two of the five guns. She was detected in the act of putting out the third. The party sprang to their feet. Quick as thought, Mrs. Hart brought the piece she held to her shoulder, & declared she would kill the first man who approached her. All were terror-struck, for Nancy's obliquity of sight caused each one to imagine her aim was at him. At length one of them made a motion to advance upon her. True to her threat, she fired. He fell dead upon the floor! Instantly seizing another musket, she brought it to the position in readiness to fire again. By this time Sukey had returned from the spring, & taking up the remaining gun, carried it out of the house, saying to her mother, "Daddy & them will soon be here." This information increased the alarm of the Tories, who understood the necessity of recovering their arms immediately. But each hesitated, in the confident belief that Mrs. Hart had one eye, at least, upon him for a mark. They proposed a general rush. No time was to be lost by the bold woman; she fired again, & brought down another Tory. Sukey had another musket in readiness, which her mother took, &, posting herself in the doorway, called upon the party to "surrender their damnd Tory carcasses to a Whig woman." They agreed to surrender, & proposed to " shake h&s upon the strength of it;" but the conqueror kept them in their places for a few moments, till her husband & his neighbours came up to the door. They were about to shoot down the Tories, but Mrs. Hart stopped them, saying they had surrendered to her, &, her spirit being up to boiling heat, she swore that " shooting was too good for them." This hint was enough. The dead man was dragged out of the house, the wounded Tory & the others were bound, taken out beyond the bars, & hung.

"The tree upon which they were hung was pointed out, in 1838, by one who lived in those bloody times, & who also showed the spot once occupied by Mrs. Hart's cabin, accompanying the designation with the emphatic remark, "Poor Nancy—she was a honey of a patriot, but the devil of a wife!"


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New York Lady c 1790

November 12, 2013, 1:00 am
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Hannah Maley (Mrs. Johannes Cornelis) Cuyler (b. 1769), Unidentified Artist, circa 1790

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18C American Paintings of Women by John Wollaston 1710-1775

November 16, 2013, 1:00 am
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c 1749 John Wollaston (American colonial era painter, 1710-1775) Lucy Parry, Wife of Admiral Parry

English rococo portraitist John Wollaston arrived in New York from England in 1749, where he worked for 2 years. It seems that Wollaston came across the Atlantic specifically to paint portraits and then to return to England.  A contemporary label on his 1751 portrait of colonial William Smith, Jr. refers to  "Johnannes Wollaston Londoniensis." Little is know about his training in England. Charles Willson Peale wrote to his son Rembrandt in 1812, that Wollaston trained in London with a painter of drapery. Wollaston left England just as Neoclassicism, as a reaction against baroque and rococo styles, was spreading throughout England and Europe.

1745-1748 John Wollaston (American colonial era painter, 1710-1775) Portrait of a Lady

He traveled south from New York to paint briefly in Philadelphia in 1752; and, by the winter of 1753, Wollaston moved south to Annapolis, Maryland, and then on to Virginia by 1755. In Annapolis, he painted at least 60 portraits of Marylanders.

1749-52 John Wollaston (American colonial era painter, 1710-1775) Portrait of a Woman

Wollaston's rococo portraits were a hit in Maryland's capital of Annapolis. The March 15, 1753, Maryland Gazette carried the following poem honoring Wollaston.
"On Seeing Mr. Wollaston’s Pictures, in Annapolis," by a Dr. T. T.

Behold the wond’rous Power of Art!
That mocks devouring Time and Death,
Can Nature’s ev’ry Charm impart;
And make the lifeless Canvas breathe.

1749 John Wollaston (American colonial era painter, 1710-1775) Margaret Tudor (Mrs. Richard Nicholls)

In the Chesapeake, he painted the families of many plantation-owning gentry. He returned to the city-life of Philadelphia in 1758, seeking more commissions. Some suggest that he may have sailed for the West Indies from Philadelphia.  In the fall of 1765, he reappeared in the bustling, high-style port city of Charleston, South Carolina, where he painted at least 17 portraits.  Although there is no written record of his associations, Wollaston may have known younger artsts Robert Feke, John Hesselius, and perhaps Benjamine West. He may have known Jeremiah Theus, while he was painting in Charleston. 

1749-52 John Wollaston (American colonial era painter, 1710-1775) Catherine Harris Smith (Mrs. Ebenezer Pemberton)

On January 19, 1767, Wollaston, announced his plans to leave Charleston to return to England, in the South Carolina Gazette:

"The Subscriber intending for England in a few weeks, takes this public method of returning thanks, to all gentlemen and ladies who have been so good to employ him: Those who may have any demands upon him, are desired to bring in their accounts; and of those who are indebted to him he requests the favour they will discharge the same."

1749-1752 John Wollaston (American colonial era painter, 1710-1775) Mrs Joseph Reade

1749-1752 John Wollaston (American colonial era painter, 1710-1775) Mary Walton Morris

1750 John Wollaston (American colonial era painter, 1710-1775) Experience Johnson Mrs Samuel Gouverneur

1750 John Wollaston (American colonial era painter, 1710-1775) Rachel Levy (Mrs Isaac Mendes Seixas) 1719-1797

1750s John Wollaston (American colonial era painter, 1710-1775) Ann Langdon (Mrs Richard Ayscough)

1750s John Wollaston (American colonial era painter, 1710-1775) Anne Carter Harrison Randolph (c. 1724-after 1793)

1750s John Wollaston (American colonial era painter, 1710-1775) Mary Bryant (Mrs William Peartree)

1750s John Wollaston (American colonial era painter, 1710-1775) Mary Meade Walker

1750s John Wollaston (American Colonial Era artist, 1733-1767) Mrs James Alexander c 1749-60

1751 John Wollaston (American colonial era painter, 1710-1775) Mrs Margaret Chew Bradley

1752 John Wollaston (American colonial era painter, 1710-1775) Dorothy Willing (Mrs. Walter Stirling)

1752 John Wollaston (American colonial era painter, 1710-1775) Mrs Philip Livingston

1752 John Wollaston (American colonial era painter, 1710-1775) Mrs Pontius Stelle

1753-54 John Wollaston (American colonial era painter, 1710-1775) Mrs Daniel Carroll II (1710-1775) & Daniel Carroll (1752-1790)

1754 John Wollaston (American colonial era painter, 1710-1775) Elizabeth Tasker (Mrs Christopher Lowndes)

1754 John Wollaston (American colonial era painter, 1710-1775) Mrs Charles Carroll

1755 John Wollaston (American colonial era painter, 1710-1775) Elizabeth Harrison (Mrs Peyton Randolph)

1756 John Wollaston (American colonial era painter, 1710-1775) Mrs William Allen

1757 John Wollaston (American colonial era painter, 1710-1775) Martha Dandridge (Daniel Parke Custis) (Mrs George Washington)

1758 John Wollaston (American colonial era painter, 1710-1775) Mary Willing (Mrs William Byrd III)

1760 John Wollaston (American colonial era painter, 1710-1775) Mary Carroll Mrs Charles Carroll of Duddington

1765 John Wollaston (American colonial era painter, 1710-1775) Mary Ross Beale.

1765-67 John Wollaston (American colonial era painter, 1710-1775) Lady in Gold Dress from Charleston, South Carolina

1765-67 John Wollaston (American colonial era painter, 1710-1775) Mary Ross Mrs John Beale

John Wollaston (American colonial era painter, 1710-1775) Frances Tasker (Mrs Robert Carter)

John Wollaston (American colonial era painter, 1710-1775) Portrait of a Lady

1767 John Wollaston (American colonial era painter, 1710-1775) Ann Gibbes Mrs Edward Thomas

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18C American Women by Benjamin West 1738-1820

November 16, 2013, 1:30 am
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Benjamin West was the 10th child of a rural innkeeper in Springfield, Pennsylvania, in October, 1738, and died exaulted in London, in March, 1820. Before his ascension to historical allegory painter for English royalty, he began learning his craft as a humble portraitist in Philadelphia. West told John Galt, his biographer, that when he was a child, Native Americans showed him how to make paint by mixing some clay from the river bank with bear grease in a pot.

During his years painting in the British American colonies, his portraits exhibit a modest attempt to emulate the baroque & rococo styles, which he probably observed in Philadelphia in the works of English emigrant William Williams (1727–1791), American itinerant artist Robert Feke (1707–1751), visiting English rococo portraitist John Wollaston (1733-1767), and the immigrant Swedish native Gustavus Hesselius (1682–1755) plus his son John Hesselius (1728–1778).

His modest American portrait compositions also exhibit some knowledge of English mezzotint portraits reflecting the works of Peter Lely (1618–160) and Godfrey Kneller (1646–1723). West told a friend that a "Mr. Hide (Haidt), a German, gave him instruction. Johann Valentine Haidt (1700-1780), a Moravian evangelist & trained painter, painted not just portraits, but also history & religious paintings. Apparently, Benjamin West became determined to paint inspiring historical & religious compositions as well.

He later wrote, "Most undoubtedly had not (I) been settled in Philadelphia I should not have embraced painting as a profession." However, his early move away from Philadelphia to England was necessary for him to work in a country where artists were commissioned to paint inspiring depictions of history's real & imagined indispensable men and women who made extreme sacrifices and performed noble deeds.

In the American colonies, the gentry paid for portraits, not inspiration.

In 1760, encouraged by the provost of the College of Philadelphia William Smith, Pennsylvania Chief Justice William Allen sponsored Benjamin West's trip to Italy, giving him a £100 line of credit and a letter of introduction calling him "a young ingenious Painter of this City, who is desirous to improve himself in that Science, by visiting Florence & Rome." A year later Allen and his brother-in-law, Pennsylvania Governor James Hamilton, provided more money for West. West referred to Allen as "the principal of my patrons."

During his 22 years in America, he was a fairly typical provincial artist; but his choice to leave the colonies in 1760, for Europe & England led to his appointment as the official painter at the court of King George III & to his becoming co-founder of the Royal Academy in London, where 3 generations of fellow American students would return home from his tutelage to impact the art of the emerging republic.

His students included Joseph Wright (1756-1793), Ralph Earl (1751-1801), Matthew Pratt (1734-1805), Charles Willson Peale (1741-1827), John Trumbull (1756-1843), Gilbert Stuart (1755-1828), and Washington Allston (1779-1843). And, of course, he taught Bostonian John Singleton Copley (1738-1815), who chose never to return to his homeland.

1755 Benjamin West (1738-1820). Mary Bethel (Mrs. Samuel Boude)


1756 Bejamin West (1738-1820). Sarah Ursula Rose


1759 Benjamin West (1738-1820). Jane Galloway (1745-1801)


c 1760 Benjamin West (1738-1820). Anne Allen (later Mrs. John Penn). John Penn (1729-1795) was the last governor of colonial Pennsylvania, serving from 1763-1771 & 1773-1776, & he was a grandson of William Penn. Thos portrait of the daughter of West's benefactor Chief Justice William Allen may have been painted as West was traveling from Pennsylvania to Italy & then to England.


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Paintings American Women 1700-20s

November 16, 2013, 12:30 pm
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1700s Mrs Augustus Jay. Attributed to Gerrit Duyckinck (1660–ca. 1712).


Attributed to Nehemiah Partridge Mrs Ellery


1720s Attributed to Gerrit or Gerardus Duyckinck Portrait of a Lady


1720s Nehemiah Partridge (1683-1737). Wyntje Lavinia Van Vechten.


1720s Nehemiah Partridge (1683-1737) Catryna Van Rensselaur Ten Broeck.


1720s Perhaps Pieter Vanderlyn (1687-1778). Portrait of a Lady (possibly-Hannah Stillman).


1721 Schuyler Limner possibly Nehemiah Partridge (1683-1737.) Maria Van Alen (Mrs. Thomas Van Alstyne


1722 Nehemiah Partridge (1683-1737) Ariaantja Coeymans Verplank (1672-1743) Mrs David Verplank.


1723 Attributed to Gerardus I. Duyckinck (1695-1746) Elsie Rutgers Schuyler (Mrs. Petrus) Vas (1674-after 1752)

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18C American Women 1730s

November 16, 2013, 1:16 pm
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1730 John Smibert (American colonial era artist, 1688-1751). Possibly Hester Stanton Plaisted Gooch.


1730 Gansevoort Limner possibly Pieter Vanderlyn (American colonial era artist, 1687-1778). Susanna Truax.


1730 Pieter Vanderlyn (American colonial era artist, 1687-1778). Catarina De Wandelaer Gansevoort (1689-1767.)


1730 Pieter Vanderlyn (American colonial era artist, 1687-1778). Girl of the Van Rensselaer Family


1730-40s Unknown Artist Catalynje Post


1730s Gerardus Duyckinck (American colonial era artist, 1695-1746.) Elizabeth van Braugh


1730s Gerardus Duyckinck (American colonial era artist, 1695-1746 ). Catherine Williams (Mrs. Elias Boudinot III)


1732 Pieter Vanderlyn (American colonial era artist, 1687-1778). Young Lady with a Rose


1732 John Smibert (American colonial era artist, 1688-1751). Hannah Gardiner (Mrs. James Mac Sparran.)


1732 John Smibert (American colonial era artist, 1688-1751). Jane Clark (Mrs. Ezekiel Lewis)


1734 John Smibert (American colonial era artist, 1688-1751). Judith Colman (Mrs. Thomas Bulfinch)


1734 John Smibert (American colonial era artist, 1688-1751). Hannah Pemberton (Mrs. Benjamin Coleman)


1734 John Smibert (American colonial era artist, 1688-1751). Mary Pemberton (1717-1763)


1735 Gerardus Duyckinck (American colonial era artist, 1695-1746). Richa Franks


1735-45 John Smibert (American colonial era artist, 1688-1751) Portrait of a Woman


1735 Gerardus Duyckinck (American colonial era artist, 1695-1746). Abigaill Levy Franks


1737 Pieter Vanderlyn (American colonial era artist, 1687-1778). Young Lady With a Fan


1739 Portrait of Deborah Glen


1739 Pieter Vanderlyn (American colonial era artist, 1687-1778). Catherine Ogden.

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18C American Women 1740s

November 16, 2013, 1:30 pm
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1740 John Heaton (American colonial era artist, c 1695-a 1742) Magdalena Douw (Mrs Harme) from Albany, New York. (This artist's name also spelled in records of the period Iten, Eyton, Eaton, & Easton.) He married Maria Hooghkerk (daughter of Lucus or Luycas & Judek Marselis) who was born about June 1698, in New Albany, NY. They married June, 1730 in Albany, NY. During the 1730s & early 40s, these Heatons lived in Albany, where their children were baptised in the Dutch church in 1736 & 1738. After 1742, they appear to have relocated to New Jersey, where they joined the Reformed church in Bergen County.

1740 John Smibert (American colonial era artist,1688-1751). Portrait of a Lady.


1740s Artist Unknown. Jocohabed Michaels (Mrs. Judah Mears).


1745-47 Unknown Artist. Martha Salisbury Quincy (Mrs. Norton Quincy).


1746 Joseph Badger (American colonial era artist, 1708-1765). Eliz Storer (Mrs. Isaac Smith).


1746 Robert Feke (American colonial era artist, 1707-1751). Anne McCall.  Robert Feke was born on Long Island, New York. Little is known of his life until 1741, when he painted the Family of Isaac Royall. There are about 16 portraits known to be painted by Feke plus others argued to be by him. Feke worked in Boston, painting the families of wealthy merchants & landowners and seemed to disappear from the records about 1750.


1746 Robert Feke (American colonial era artist, 1707-1751). Anne Shippen (Mrs. Charles Willing) 1710-1791.


1746 Robert Feke (American colonial era artist, 1707-1751). Mary McCall (1725-1799) (Mrs William Plumstead).

1748 Robert Feke (American colonial era artist, 1707-1751). Grizzell Eastwick (Mrs. Charles Apthorp).

1748 Robert Feke (American colonial era artist, 1707-1751). Mrs. Isaac Winslow


1748 Robert Feke (American colonial era artist, 1707-1751) Mrs John Banister


1748 Robert Feke (American colonial era artist, 1707-1751) Elizabeth Erving (Mrs. James Bowdoin II)


1748 Robert Feke (American colonial era artist, 1707-1751). Susannah Faneuil (Mrs. James Boutineau).


1749 John Greenwood (American colonial era artist, 1727-1792). Mrs. Henry Bromfield (Margaret Fayerweather) John Greenwood was a portrait painter & engraver born in Boston, Massachusetts. He apprenticed with Thomas Johnston, a sign painter & engraver from 1742 to 1745, where he copied various English mezzotints. Besides portraits, Greenwood painted satirical works. The artist left Boston in 1752, sailing to the Dutch colony of Surinam & then on to Paris & England. Greenwood died in London, England in 1792.

c. 1749 Robert Feke (Amerian colonial era artist, 1707-1751). Mary (Mrs. John Channing)

1740s Robert Feke (American colonial era artist, 1707-1751) Portrait of a Young Lady


c. 1749 Joseph Badger (American colonial era artist, 1708-1765). Elizabeth Campbell (Mrs. William Foye)

1749 Robert Feke (American colonial era artist, 1707-1751) Mary Ward Flagg

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18C American Women by John Durand 1731-1805

November 17, 2013, 1:00 am
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John Durand (French-born?, English-trained, American painter, 1731-1805)  Catharine Beekman 1766


In London on September 15, 1760, John Durand, apprenticed for 7 years to decorative carriage & heraldry painter Charles Catton, Senior (1728-1798). (Public Records Office, London, IRI 1759, Folio 144) In the mid 1760s, apparently somewhat shy of the full 7 year commitment, student John Durand sailed for America, offering to paint inspiring historical paintings for the colonial populace, which was only interested in portraits


1780 John Durand (French-born?, English-trained, American painter, 1731-1805) Mrs. James Greenway


John Durand first appeared in newpapers in the colonies in the spring of 1768; although he may have been painting in Virginia, before he advertised in New York. If he was painting in Virginia in 1765, he had certainly left his apprenticeship in London, before its contract expired.


John Durand (French-born?, English-trained, American painter, 1731-1805)  Lucy Skelton Gilliam or Mrs Robert Gilliam


His advertisements reflect his decorative heraldry and carriage painting & staining apprenticeship, as well as his desire to become a history painter. In order to support himself, Durand settled for the common ground for a painter in the American colonies, he painted portraits.


1770 John Durand (French-born?, English-trained, American painter, 1731-1805)  Mrs John Lothrop


It is reported that he placed an ad in the New York Journal on April 2, 1768, offering drawing instructions in New York. "Any young Gentleman inclined to learn the Principles of Design, so far as to be able to draw any objects and shade them with Indian Ink or Water Colours, which is both useful and ornamental may be taught by John Durand...at his House on Broad Street, near City Hall, for a reasonable Price."


1769 John Durand (French-born?, English-trained, American painter, 1731-1805) Elizabeth Boush.


Perhaps he did not attract any interested students. Just days later, he did place the following notice in several papers: April 11, 18, 25, & May 2, 1768 in the New York Gazette, or Weekly Post Boy. April 21 & May 5, 1768 in the New York Journal "The subscriber having from his infancy endeavoured to qualify himself in the art of historical painting, humbly hopes for that encouragement from the gentlemen and ladies of this city and province, that so elegant and entertaining an art has always obtain'd from the people of the most improved minds and best taste and judgment, in all polite nations in every age. And tho' he is sensible that o excel, (in this branch of painitng especially) requires a more ample fun of universal and accurate knowledge than he can pretend to, in geometry, geography, perspective, anatomy, expression of the passions, ancient and modern history, &c. &c. yet he hopes, from the good nature and indulgence of the gentlemen and ladies who employ him, that his humble attempts, in which his best endeavours will not be wanting, will meet with acceptance, and give satisfaction; and he proposes to work at as cheap rates as any person in America."


1768-70 John Durand (French-born?, English-trained, American painter, 1731-1805) Hannah Farmer (Mrs. Benjamin Peck)


"To such gentelmen and ladies as have thought but little upon this subject and might only regard painting as a superfluous ornament, I would just observe, that history painting, besides being extrememly ornamental has many important uses.--It presents to our view some of the most interesting scenes recorded in ancient or modern hisory, gives us more lively and perfect ideas of the things represented, than we could received from a historical account of them, and frequently recals to our memory a long train of events with which those representations were connected. They show us a proper expression of the passions excited by every event, and have an effect, the very same in kind (but stronger) that a fine historical description of the same passage would have upon a judiciouos reader. Men who have distinguished themselves for the good of their country and mankind, may be set before our eyes as examples, and to give us their silent lessons--and besides, every judicuous friend and visitant shares, with us in the advantage and improvement, and increases it value to ourselves." John Durand Near the City Hall, Broad Street


1768-70 John Durand (French-born?, English-trained, American painter, 1731-1805) Susannah or Mary Bontecou


But after his May 5th notice in the New York papers, he had moved north rather suddenly. On May 13, 20, and 27, 1768, he placed the following noice in the Connecticut Journal. "John Durand, Portrait Painter, Intends to Stay in this Town part of the warm season. If any Gentlemen or Ladies, choose to hae thier Pictures Drawn, they may have them Drawn a good deal cheaper than has yet been seen; by applying to the Subscriber living at Captain Camp's House, where several of his Perfomances may be seen. And for more Conveniences of an Gentlemen or Ladies, that would have them Drawn at their Houses, he will wait upon them whenever they please if sent for." John Durand.


1768 Attributed by some to John Durand (French-born?, English-trained, American painter, 1731-1805) Sarah Whitehead Hubbard


This announcement seems to imply that John Durand would be moving south, when the cold weather came to Connecticut. He was apparently somewhat unsuccessful as a portrait painter in New York and New England, although he did paint in Connecticut. From dates on his portraits & notes in account journals, he was working in Virginia in 1770-71, 1775, and 1780.


John Durand (French-born?, English-trained, American painter, 1731-1805) Jane Beekman 1766


He advertised twice in Williamsburg, Virginia in the 1770s. On June 7, 1770 & June 21, 1770, he placed the following notice in the Virginia Gazette."Portrait Painting. Gentlemen and Ladies that are inclined to have their pictures drawn will find the subscriber ready to serve them, upon very moderate terms, either for cash, short credit, or country produce. at their own homes or where he lives, which is next door to the Hon. The Speaker's. He will likewise wait upon Gentlemen and Ladies in the country, if they send for him. He will also paint, gild, and varnish, wheel carriages and put coats of arms, or ciphers, upon them, in a neater and more lasting manner than was ever done in this country."


John Durand (French-born?, English-trained, American painter, 1731-1805) Mary Beekman 1766


John Durand (French-born?, English-trained, American painter, 1731-1805) The Rapalje Children


1770 John Durand (French-born?, English-trained, American painter, 1731-1805) Martha Tucker (Mrs Thomas Newton II)


Attributed by some to John Durand (French-born?, English-trained, American painter, 1731-1805)  Boys on a Walk within a Walled Garden. 1765


John Durand John Durand (French-born?, English-trained, American painter, 1731-1805) Mrs Adriaan Bancker c 1775


John Durand (French-born?, English-trained, American painter, 1731-1805) Anne Billhop Farmer Jarvis, 1772

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18C American Women by Joseph Blackburn 1700-1780

November 17, 2013, 1:30 am
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Although it is not certain, artist Joseph Blackburn was probably born, schooled, & died in England. He clearly was taught painting in the English Rocco portrait style & his particular skill was in painting elegant fabrics & fashions on gracefully portrayed sitters. We do know that before he came to the American colonies, he sailed first to Bermuda, where he spent 2 years painting portraits.

1753 Joseph Blackburn (fl in the colonies 1754-1763). Mary Lea (Mrs. John Harvey).

He left that island for the potential of a broader client base in the growing Atlantic towns of the British American colonies.  He was painting actively in the colonies from 1754-1763. He arrived in Newport from Bermuda in 1754, and then traveled to Boston (1755-58), and on to Portsmouth (1758-62). He returned to London in 1763.

1754 Joseph Blackburn (fl in the colonies 1753-1763). Mary Sylvester

He arrived in his first colonial American port town with a letter of introduction from a locally known and respected member of genteel society.

1754 Joseph Blackburn (fl in the colonies 1754-1763). Abigail Chesebrough (Mrs. Alexander Grant).

The 1754 letter of introduction from a family member of one of Blackburn's former clients addressed to friends in the artist's next port-of-call encourages both Blackburn's social acceptance and his employment.

1754 Joseph Blackburn (fl in the colonies 1754-1763) Lady.

Joseph Blackburn's letter of introduction to Newport society, "I hope youl excuse the liberty I shall now take of recommending the bearer Mr Blackburne to your favor & friendship, he is late from the Island of Bermuda a Limner by profession & is allow’d to excell in that science, has now spent some months in this place, & behav’d in all respects as becomes a Gentleman, being possess’d with the agreeable qualities of great modesty, good sence & genteel behaviour he purposes if suitable encouragements to make some stay in Boston, and will be an entire stranger there...shall therefore be obliged to you or friends for any civilities you are pleased to shew him, my best Compliments...to your good lady Miss Sucky and Miss Nancy & who’s Pictures I expect to see in Boston drawn by the above Gent[lema]n."

1754 Joseph Blackburn (fl in the colonies 1754-1763). Elizabeth Pelham (Mrs. Peter Harrison).

Just like other colonial portraitists, Blackburn copied many of his poses and costumes from English mezzotints executed in the baroque style of Godfrey Kneller (1646–1723) & Peter Lely (1618–1680) and the updated rococo take of Thomas Hudson (1701–1779).

1754 Joseph Blackburn (fl in the colonies 1754-1763). Mrs David Chesebrough.

Blackburn painted fanciful depictions of the pastoral shepherdess, lavish silk gowns, and extravagant formal urns & gardens that reflected the fantasy desires of his colonial gentry clients living far from London's easy access to excess.

1757 Joseph Blackburn (fl in the colonies 1754-1763). Abigail Browne (Mrs. Joseph Blaney)


1760 Joseph Blackburn (fl in the colonies 1754-1763). Eunice Fitch


1757 Joseph Blackburn (fl in the colonies 1754-1763). Mrs James Pitts


1757 Joseph Blackburn (fl in the colonies 1754-1763). Susan Apthorp (Mrs. Thomas Bulfinch)


1759 Joseph Blackburn (fl in the colonies 1754-1763). Hannah Babcock (Mrs. John Bours)


1761 Joseph Blackburn (fl in the colonies 1754-1763). Elizabeth Saltonstall (Mrs. Silas Deane)


1754 Joseph Blackburn (fl in the colonies 1754-1763). Mrs John Pigott of Bermuda


1760 Joseph Blackburn (fl in the colonies 1754-1763). Hannah Wentworth Atkinson


1761 Joseph Blackburn (fl in the colonies 1754-1763). Elizabeth Browne Rogers


1762 Joseph Blackburn (fl in the colonies 1754-1763). Portrait of a Woman


1762-63 Joseph Blackburn (fl in the colonies 1754-1763). Mrs Samuel Cutts


Joseph Blackburn (American colonial era artist, 1700-1780) Mrs Thomas Jones


Joseph Blackburn (American colonial era artist, 1700-1780) Mrs. Knight of Gosfield


1755 Joseph Blackburn (American colonial era artist, 1700-1780) Abigail Russell Curwen


Joseph Blackburn (fl in the colonies 1754-1763). Ann Phillips


 Joseph Blackburn (fl in the colonies 1754-1763). Mrs Gillam Phillips Marie Faneuil


1762 Joseph Blackburn (fl in the colonies 1754-1763). Anne Saltenstall


1762 Joseph Blackburn (fl in the colonies 1754-1763). Anne Saltenstall


Joseph Blackburn (fl in the colonies 1754-1763). Elizabeth Hughes

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18C American Women + a bit of intrigue by Cosmo Alexander (1724-1772)

November 17, 2013, 2:00 am
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Cosmo Alexander (1724-1772) Self Portrait c 1747

Cosmo Alexander (1724-1772) was born in Aberdeen, Scotland, the son of Catholic portrait painter & engraver John Alexander (1690-1765) and the great grandson of George Jameson (c.1587-1644), whom Horace Walpole called "the Vandyke of Scotland."

1745-50s Cosmo Alexander (1724-1772.) Portrait of a Jacobite Lady.

Alexander was so staunchly committed to the Jacobite cause, that he had to flee Scotland for participating in the 1745 Rising. After the disasterous Jacobite defeat at Culloden, he sought refuge in nurturing, sympathetic, artistic Rome between 1747-1751. He carried with him a letter of introduction to the Jacobite court declaring that he was "a lad of genius in painting."

1770 Cosmo Alexander (1724-1772). Margaret Stiles Manning.

From that point on, Alexander studied art & painted portraits of exiled Catholic leaders including "Bonnie" Prince Charles Edward Stuart. He continued studing in Livorno & Paris in 1751-52, before returning to London to live in a house he would soon inherit from architect James Gibbs (1674-1754), who was also a Catholic born in Aberdeen, Scotland.

1770 Cosmo Alexander (1724-1772). Mary Jemima Balfour.

Cosmo Alexander left London for the Netherlands a decade later and then sailed for America in 1766, after the death of his father. In the Atlantic colonies he focused on connecting with the Scottish community, moving from town to town in search of commissions. Records show that he joined the St. Andrew's Society, a charitable group organized to assist fellow Scots, in both New York & Philadelphia, where he paused to paint.


1770 Attributed to Cosmo Alexander (1724-1772). Girl with a Lamb.

He also painted in Boston & New Jersey. Colonial governor William Franklin (loyalist son of Benjamin Franklin) wrote in his correspondence that Alexander lived for several weeks in the governor's mansion in Burlington, New Jersey, painting and receiving patrons there.

1770 Attributed to Cosmo Alexander (1724-1772). Girl with a Squirrel.

Colonial Governor Franklin, Benjamin Franklin's son, mentioned Alexander's frail condition in one of his letters to England, "He was last year deprived of the use of his limbs by a fit of sickness, but is since recovered & got to work again."

Alexander met his greatest portrait success in Newport, Rhode Island, where one young man remembered he was "of delicate health and prepossessing manners" and that he "associated almost exclusively with the gentlemen from Scotland."  In Newport, Alexander met 14-year-old Gilbert Stuart (1754-1828), who was the son of a Scottish immigrant snuff millwright also thought to be a Jacobite. Bright young Stuart had already painted the famous portrait Dr. Hunter's Spaniels, which hangs today in the Hunter House Mansion in Newport, when he was 12-years-old.

Fellow Jacobite exile Dr. William Hunter, who owned the spaniels in Newport, convinced Alexander to take young Stuart as his apprentice. The pair traveled south in 1771, visiting Williamsburg & Charleston, before departing together for Edinburgh, where Alexander died suddenly the next year on August 25, 1772. Attempting briefly and without success to earn a living as a painter, Gilbert Stuart returned to Newport in 1773.

Gilbert Stuart (1755-1828). Self Portrait

The first portrait in this posting is from Scotland. In the spring of 2003, the Drambuie Liqueur Company sent its Jacobite art collection on tour to the Telfair Museum of Art in Savannah, Georgia. Among the paintings attributed to Alexander was Portrait of a Jacobite Lady, showing a woman in a tartan riding habit holding the Jacobite symbol, the white rose.

During the 1745 Rebellion when Bonnie Prince Charlie tried to wrest back the British throne from the Hanoverian dynasty, he arrived in the Scottish capital of Edinburgh to great fanfare. Many women donned tartan dresses & Jacobite symbols. The Prince thanked one of the most enthusiastic Edinburgh families supporting the Jacobite cause, the MacKinnons, by giving them the secret recipe for the after-dinner whisky liqueur called Drambuie. The MacKinnon family ran a company producing the spirit for over 250 years.

This painting, Portrait of a Jacobite Lady, demonstrates how art can be used to express a political belief. After the 1745 uprising, the British government made it illegal to be a Jacobite. Subjects in the Scottish Highland region (the area where most of the prince's supporters lived) were forbidden to carry weapons or wear tartans (the plaid fabric representing their family). Obviously, supporting someone to overthrow the ruler was against the law; and if a subject were discovered to be a Jacobite, the sentence would be death. Jacobites had to express their support of the Stuart family in secret or leave Scotland, as Cosmo Alexander did.

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Search

1773 Revolution Rising - The Boston Tea Party

November 30, 2013, 7:26 am
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The Boston Tea Party, December 17, 1773

Victory in the French and Indian War was costly for the British. At the war's conclusion in 1763, King George III and his government looked to taxing the American colonies as a way of recouping their war costs. They were also looking for ways to reestablish control over the colonial governments that had become increasingly independent while the Crown was distracted by the war. Royal ineptitude compounded the problem. A series of actions including the Stamp Act (1765), the Townsend Acts (1767) and the Boston Massacre (1770) agitated the colonists, straining relations with the mother country. But it was the Crown's attempt to tax tea that spurred the colonists to action and laid the groundwork for the American Revolution.

 A view of the Town of Boston in New England and British ships of war landing their troops, 1768

On Tuesday last the body of the people of this and all the adjacent towns, and others from the distance of twenty miles, assembled at the old south meeting-house, to inquire the reason of the delay in sending the ship Dartmouth, with the East-India Tea back to London; and having found that the owner had not taken the necessary steps for that purpose, they enjoin'd him at his peril to demand of the collector of the customs a clearance for the ship, and appointed a committee of ten to see it perform'd; after which they adjourn'd to the Thursday following ten o'clock.

Americans throwing the Cargoes of the Tea Ships into the River, at Boston

They then met and being inform'd by Mr. Rotch, that a clearance was refus'd him, they enjoye'd him immediately to enter a protest and apply to the governor for a pass port by the castle, and adjourn'd again till three o'clock for the same day. At which time they again met and after waiting till near sunset Mr. Rotch came in and inform'd them that he had accordingly enter'd his protest and waited on the governor for a pass, but his excellency told him he could not consistent with his duty grant it until his vessel was qualified. The people finding all their efforts to preserve the property of the East India company and return it safely to London, frustrated by the sea consignees, the collector of the customs and the governor of the province, DISSOLVED their meeting.--But, BEHOLD what followed!



A number of brave & resolute men, determined to do all in their power to save their country from the ruin which their enemies had plotted, in less than four hours, emptied every chest of tea on board the three ships commanded by the captains Hall, Bruce, and Coffin, amounting to 342 chests, into the sea!! without the least damage done to the ships or any other property. The matters and owners are well pleas'd that their ships are thus clear'd; and the people are almost universally congratulating each other on this happy event.  Boston Gazette December 20, 1773

Americans throwing the Cargoes of the Tea Ships into the River, at Boston

The Boston Tea Party was an act of direct action protest by the American colonists against the British Government in which they destroyed many crates of tea belonging to the British East India Company and dumped it into the Boston Harbor. The incident, which took place on December 16, 1773, was a major catalyst of the American Revolution and remains an iconic event of American history.
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Birds in 18C American paintings

October 13, 2013, 1:00 am
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1745 American Painting - Joseph Badger (1708-1765). Detail of John Gerry (1741-1786) brother of Elbridge Gerry of Boston with bird.


Most of our migrating birds have left our woods already.  Seems like the perfect time to look at paintings of 18th-century Americans with their birds, both in the wild & captured in aviaries & cages.


1719 American Painting - Nehemiah Partridge (1683-1737) Detail Catheine Ten Broeck with Bird


We know that native North American birds fascinated men & women alike in 18th century British American colonies. Colonials certainly had cages for their birds. Some even kept larger bird-keeping areas called aviaries. An aviary is an enclosed area, often in a garden & larger than a traditional birdcage, meant for keeping, feeding, and hopefully breeding birds.  Aviaries in South Carolina sometimes contained two-story bird houses.


1725 American Painting - Charles Bridges (1670-1747). Detail of William Byrd II & Lucy Parke daughter Evelyn Byrd and a bird in the tree.


Mark Catesby (1682-1749) sailed to Virginia in 1712, and stayed in the British Atlantic colonies for 7 years, sketching and compiling The Natural History of Carolina, Florida, and the Bahama Islands for publication upon his return to England. In his monumental work, he described birds he had seen in the colonies in cages. (Thomas Jefferson had a copy of Catesby's History in his library.)


1730 American Painting - Pieter Vanderlyn (1687-1778). Detail Paul de Wandelaer with bird.


Between 1739 and 1762, South Carolinian Eliza Lucas Pinckney (c 1722-1793) kept a letterbook in which she wrote, "Airry Chorristers pour forth their melody...the mocking bird...inchanted me with his harmony." By this time, enterprising Southerners caged red birds and even exported cages of mockingbirds to England.


The New York Journal published a poem of a woman imagining her ideal garden entitled A Wish of a Lady in 1769.

"...Just under my window I'd fancy a lawn,
Where delicate shrubs shou'd be planted with taste,
And none of my ground be seen running to waste.

Instead of Italians, the Linnet and Thrush
Wou'd with harmony greet me from every bush;
Those gay feather'd songsters do rapture inspire!
What music so soft as the heav'nly choir..."


1733 American Painting - Gerardus Duyckinck (1695-1746). Detail David and Phila Franks with bird.


And 18th-century portrait painters in America depicted men, women, & children with birds from the beginning of the century to the end. The question is whether the birds are being used as symbols or are actually birds that they might have owned.


Birds were kept as pets around Charleston, South Carolina, when an ad in the South-Carolina Gazette in January of 1753 noted, "ANY Persons willing to try the cultivation of Flax and Hemp in this province, may have gratis a pint of Hemp Seed, and half a pint of Flax Seed, at Mr. Commissary Dart's store in Tradd-Street.—But it's hoped ladies will not send for any Hemp Seed for birds."


1755 American Painting - John Wollaston (1710-1775). Detail Elizabeth Page & Mann Page, children of Mann & Ann Corbin (Tayloe) Page of Rosewell, Gloucester County, with bird.


In February of 1768, James Drummond announced in Charleston's The South Carolina and American General Gazette that he had "just imported...from L(ondon), a large and compleat (Assortment) of GOODS, Among which are the following... men and womens white Italian gloves... corks, an sortment of watchmaker's tools...a bird cage."


1755 American Painting - Joseph Badger 1708-1765). Detail of Elizabeth Gould with bird.


James McCall advertised in the 1771 South Carolina Gazette and Country Journal the he had "just received...a great Variety of Garden Seeds, Pease and Beans; Hemp, Canary, Rape, and Moss Seed for Birds."


1758 American Painting - John Singleton Copley (1738-1815). Detail Anne Fairchild (Mrs. Metcal Bowler) with bird in birdcage.


In 1772, the South-Carolina Gazette carried an ad for a plantation to be rented "on the Ashley River near Charleston" with "two well-contrived aviaries." A year later, the same paper noted a lot in Charlestown which contained, "a very good Two-Story Birds House."


1758 American Painting - John Singleton Copley (1738-1815). Detail Thomas Aston Coffin with two birds.


Baroness Von Riedesel traveling through the southern colonies with her officer husband during the Revolution wrote, "I had brought two gorgeous birds with me from Virginia. The main bird was scarlet with a darker red tuft of feathers on his head, about the size of a bull-finch, and it sang magnificently. The female bird was gray with a red breast and also had a tuft of feathers on its head."


American Painting 1760 Joseph Badger (1708-1765). James Badger with bird.


The Baroness continued, "They are very tame soon after they are caught and eat out of one's hand. These birds live a long time, but if two male birds are hung in the same room they are so jealous of each other that one of them dies soon afterwards."

American Painting 1760 Joseph Badger (1708 - 1765). Detail of Jemima Flucker with bird.


She related that she,"saw black birds in Virginia of the same size, which always cry 'willow.' This amused us very much because one of my husband's aides was named Willoe."


American Painting 1763-65 Henry Benbridge (1743-1812). Detail of Gordon Family with bird.


The Baroness stated, "One of my servants discovered a whole nest of these red birds and fed and raised them. Knowing how much I loved them, he left Colle with two cages full on his back, but they all died before he reached me, much to our sorrow."


American Painting 1766-67 John Singleton Copley (1738-1815). Detail of Mary Boylston (Mrs Benjamin Hallowell) with bird.


William Faris (1728-1804) was a silversmith & clockmaker living in Annapolis, Maryland, for over 50 years. He kept journals & a diary of his life there, on & off, during the last quarter of the 18th century. On October 25, 1793, Faris noted, "Last night the 2 yallow Birds died."Earlier, he had written that his "poor Mocking Bird" had died. Although these are the only references to birds in the diary he kept during the 1790s, his 1804 inventory listed eleven bird cages.


Although it is difficult to find descriptions of 18th century aviaries in the British American colonies, we find the the books flowing into the colonies from England were replete with references to aviaries and descriptions of them.


American Painting 1766 John Singleton Copley (1738-1815). Detail of Elizabeth Ross (Mrs. William Tyng) with bird.


We know for a fact that Francis Bacon (1561-1626), English philosopher, statesman, scientist, lawyer, jurist, & author, did not like aviaries, or so he wrote in his 1625 Essayes or Counsels, Civill and Morall in the essay entitled Of Gardens. "For Aviaries, I like them not, except they be of that largeness as they may be turfed, and have living plants and bushes set in them; that the birds may have more scope and natural nestling, and that no foulness appear in the floor of the aviary."


One of England's earliest agricultural writers, John Worlidge's (1640-1700) Systema Horticulturae published in 1677, noted that, "One of the pleasures belonging to a Garden, is an Aviary, which must be near your house, that you may take some delight in it there, as well as in your Garden, and that you may in all seasons take care of its Inhabitants."


Actually, Worlidge dreamed of "an Aviary at large, that the whole Garden with its Groves and Avenues may be full of these pretty Singers, that they may with their charming Notes, rouze up our dull Spirits, that are too intent upon the Cares of this World, and mind us of the Providence, the great God of the Universe hath over us, as well as these Creatures."


American Painting 1770-1775 James Peale (1749-1831). Girl with bird.


In 1701, when Charles Smith (1715-1762) published his Ancient and Present State of the County and City of Cork, he noted that "also nearer Cork Mr. John Dennis Merchant has a good house and neat gardens with an aviary, the gardens afford a fine view of the harbour and opposite country."


American Painting 1770 Daniel Hendrickson (1723-1788). Detail of Catharine Hendrickson surrounded by birds.


The most widely read 18th-century gardening writer & the chief gardener at the Chelsea Physic Garden, Philip Miller's (1691-1771) The Gardeners and Florists Dictionary of 1724, noted that "Mr. J. B. The Author of the Hereford/hire Orchards enumerates the Benefits of Orchards, that besides their Profit, they sweeten and purify the ambient Air, and by that Means, he thinks, conduce to the Health...and afford Shade and Shelter in the Heat of Summer, but harbour a constant Aviary of sweet Singers without Wires."  Philip Miller was widely read throughout the British American colonies. His Dictionary was owned by Benjamin Franklin, Lady Jean Skipwith of Virginia, and Thomas Jefferson.


American Painting 1770s Charles Willson Peale (1741-1827). Detail Mary Tilghman & sons with bluejay.


By 1733, garden designer & writer and an early exponent of the English style landscape garden, Stephen Switzer (1682-1745) was instructing his readers on aviaries in his Practical Husbandman and Planter. In the month of June he wrote that the aviary requires the "Assistance of the Person who looks after it, by the bruising and Emulsion of the cool Seeds of Melon and Cucumbers, in their watering Pans; as also, by the giving of them the leaves of Succory, Beets...and fresh Gravel and Earth, to cure them of their Sicknefs in Moulting-Time, being now sick of their old Feathers. And now young Partridges, Indian Hens, Pheasants, Partridges, &c. begin to require a little looking after to preserve them from the griping Hawk, constantly digging up of Ant-hills for the Pecking and Support of the little chirping Brood."


American Painting 1774 Charles Willson Peale (1741 - 1827). Detail of The Johnson Brothers with bird.


One of the classic books in Thomas Jefferson's library, The Builder's Dictionary: or, Gentleman and Architect's Companion explained in 1734, that an avairy was a "House or Apartment for the keeping, feeding, and breeding of Birds." The book covers all aspects of building design, construction, and finishes. In its time, the Dictionary was considered the most complete summary available for use by English architects and members of the construction trades. Thomas Jefferson, who was constantly coming up with new designs for his house and garden at Monticello, owned a copy of The Builder's Dictionary.


American Painting 1788 Charles Willson Peale (1741-1827). Detail of Mrs. Richard Gittings with bird in cage.


In 1721, Richard Bradley, a Fellow of the Royal Society since 1712, and about to become Professor of Botany at Cambridge University, wrote a treatise, New Improvements in Planting and Gardening both Philosophical and Practical. Bradley's work New Improvements... also noted that orchards "harbour a constant Aviary of sweet Singers, which are here retained without the Charge or Violence of the Italian Wires." (Thomas Jefferson also owned a copy of Bradley's New Improvements.)


American Painting 1790 Denison Limner Probably Joseph Steward (1753-1822). Detail of Miss Denison of Stonington, CN possibly Matilda with bird and squirrel.


William Derham (1657-1735), was an Anglican clergyman, Canon of Windsor Castle, & natural philosopher. He was the first man known to measure the speed of sound. As a member of the Royal Society, he edited the correspondence between Eleasar Albin (1708-1742) & John Ray helping publish a Natural History of Birds which was illustrated by Albin between 1731-38, and which noted the Gamboa Grossbeake. "This Bird was brought from Gamboa on the Coast of Guinea and was in the Possession of his Grace the Duke of Chandos in an Aviary at his Grace's Country Seat at Edgeworth," where Albin went to draw it.


American Painting 1790 John Brewster (1766-1854). Detail of Boy with Bird.


In 1732, French priest Noel Antoine Pluche's (1688-1761) juvenile edition of Spectacle de la Nature, Or Nature Display'd extoled the joys of communing with the birds in an aviary. Although the book influenced many to become naturalists, it was a work of popularization, not of science.


In the book, the Duchess character explains that in the "Bower which the Count has inclosed with a Lattice of Brass Wire. I think I have seen, in this charming Aviary, all imaginable Sorts of little Birds, as well as those of a middling Size... this Aviary boafts a little of my Invention, and I commonly undertake the Management of it; but my Pains are requited by Pleasures that vary every Day. The Contentions of these little Creatures, their Endearments, their Melody, and Labours, and the obliging Civilities I receive from the Generality, when I pay them a Visit, are extremely entertaining to me. I carry my Work to them, and am never alone. One may pass whole Hours and Afternoons there."


American Painting 1790 Rufus Hathaway (1770 - 1822). Detail of Molly Wales Fobes with Birds.


In the 1760 Short Account, of the Principal Seats and Gardens, in and about Twickenham, woman writer Joel Henrietta Pye (Jael Henrietta Mendez Pye) (1737-1782) tells of The Earl of Lincoln's Seat. "About a Mile beyond Weybridge, situated in the midst of a noble Park. The Gardens contain 150 Acres, and are divided by a fine Canal. The whole is laid out in the modern Taste, of Flowering Shrubs, Lawns, Clumps &c... In Part of it there is a beautiful Menagerie, and between the Habitation of each particular Fowl, a Plantation of the finest Flowers, which, when in full blow, perfume the Air at a considerable Distance. Beyond that, is a fine Green-House, piled up with Oranges and various Exotics; behind which is an Aviary of every kind of Singing-Birds, who are, so concealed by the Trees, that tho' they fillthfe Garden with their Harmony, it is impossible to discover whence it proceeds."


American Painting 1790s James Earl (1749-1831). Detail of Boy with Cardinal.


Christopher Smart, Oliver Goldsmith, & Samuel Johnson reported in their compilation World Displayed: or, A Curious Collection of Voyages and Travels published in 1750, that in Mexico, "Montezuma had, besides the palace in which he kept his court, several magnificent pleasure houses, one of which was a noble building, supported by pillars of jasper. In this edifice he had an aviary of those birds that are most remarkable on account of their singing or feathers, and these were so numerous, that 300 men were said to be employed in attending them." Both George Washington and John Adams owned a copy of this book.


American Painting 1790s Ellen Sharples (1769-1849). Detail of Theodosia Burr of New Jersey with bird.


Arthur Young's (1741-1820) accounts of his travels throughout Great Britain were imported into the colonies as soon as they were published. In his 1778-1770, A Six Months Tour Through the North of England, he wrote, "From hence a walk winds to the aviary, which is a light Chinese building of a very pleasing design; it is stocked with Canary and other foreign birds, which are kept alive in winter by means of hot walls at the back of the building."


American Painting 1793 Rufus Hathaway (1770-1822). Detail of Church Sampson of Duxbury, MA. with bird and birdcage.


Architect William Chambers (1723-1796) also wrote of what he hoped would be a strong Asian influence on English gardening. In his 1772, A Dissertation on Oriental Gardening, he noted that in China, "The saloons generally open to little enclosed courts, set round with beautiful flower-pots, of different forms, made of porcelain, marble or copper, filled with the rarest flowers of the season: at the end of the court there is generally an aviary."


American Painting 1796 Charles Willson Peale (1741-1827). Thomas Elliott & Grandaughter Deborah Hibernia with white bird.


The 1773 Encyclopaedia Britannica, offered its readers practical advice. "AVIARY, a place set apart for feeding and propagating birds. It Should be so large, as to give the birds some freedom of flight; and turfed, to avoid the appearance of foulness on the floor." These folks had obviously read Francis Bacon's essay Of Gardens!


In America, the New-York Magazine; or, Literary Repository of 1792, was advising its readers that, "A Goldfinch must never be let loose in an aviary, for he destroys the nests and breaks the eggs of the other birds."





John Charnock (1756-1807) wrote in his 1794 Biographia Navalis that the retired "Admiral (George) Churchill (1654-1710) ...had constructed the most beautiful aviary in Britain, which he had, at an incredible expence, filled with a most rare and valuable collection of birds."


18th-Century English Woodcut


The next year, William Marshall's (1745-1818) Planting and Rural Ornament critically explained that "An Aviary Of Foreign Birds appears to be equally ill placed, in such a situation: exotic birds are apt accompaniments to exotic plants; and a shrubery, rather than a sequestered dell, seems to be the most natural situation for an aviary." George Washington owned a copy of this book.


18th-Century English Woodcut


Isaac Weld (1774-1856) noted in his 1800 Travels through the States of North America that at Thomas Jefferson's Monticello in Virginia,"A large apartment is laid out for a library and museum, meant to extend the entire breadth of the house, the windows of which are to open into an extensive greenhouse and aviary."


18th-Century English Woodcut.


1790 Ralph Earl (1791-1801) Jerusha Benedict (Ives


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American Artist John Hesselius 1728-1778

March 6, 2014, 1:00 am
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In colonial Philadelphia, Swedish painter Gustavus Hesselius (1682-1755) had a son John in 1728, who lived and worked in Pennsylvania, Maryland, & Virginia for 50 years. Gustavus taught his son John Hesselius (1728-1778) to paint; but their styles were different, & his more colorful son was quite successful securing commissions to paint flattering portraits of gentry women & their children.

1760 John Hesselius (1728-1778). Mrs. Richard Brown

In addition to the instruction from his father, John Hesselius probably was influenced by the work of the elegant Robert Feke (1707-1751) in Philadelphia as well. Later John moved to Maryland, where he came in contact with the rococo work of Englishman John Wollaston (1710-1775), who seemed to have an additional affect on his painting style.


1760s John Hesselius (1728-1778). Jean Dick (Mrs. Anthony Stewart)

When John Hesselius turned 35 in 1763, he courted & married a well-to-do, young widow, Mary Woodward, daughter of wealthy Colonel Richard Young, in Annapolis, Maryland. He spent the remaining years of his life as a leisurely country gentleman on her estate "Bellefield," meeting the local gentry a& gaining many lucrative commissions in both Maryland and Virginia. In Annapolis, he also met & became Charles Willson Peale's (1741-1827) first painting instructor. Charles Willson Peale would have no trouble attracting women to sit for his portraits, and neither would John Hesselius.

My favorite John Hesselius painting is not a portrait of a woman, but a painting of a family playing out in a garden.

1751 John Hesselius (1728-1778). The Grymes Children- Lucy Ludwell Grymes 1743-1830, Philip Ludwell Grymes 1746-1805, John Randolph Grymes 1747-96, & Charles Grimes 1748-?  They were the children of Phillip Grymes and his wife Mary Randolph who were born at "Brandon" on the Rappahannock River in Middlesex County, Virginia. In the year following this painting, another daughter, Susanna Grymes was born into the family.

1750 John Hesselius (1728-1778). Millicent Conway Gordon.


1757 John Hesselius (1728-1778). Mrs. Matthew Tiglman Anna Lloyd & dau Anna Maria.


1760 John Hesselius (1728-1778). Mrs. William Carmichael.


1760 John Hesselius (1728-1778). Anna Dorthea Finney 1735-1817.


John Hesselius (1728-1778). Eleanor Addison


1760 John Hesselius (1728-1778). Mrs Middleton.


1762 John Hesselius (1728-1778). Elizabeth Chew Smith


1763 John Hesselius (1728-1778). Rebecca Holdsworth and grandaughter Rebecca Woodward.


1764 John Hesselius (1728-1778). Ann Bond (Mrs. Edward Fell). Detail Maryland Historical Society


1764 John Hesselius (1728-1778). Elizabeth Galloway (Mrs Thomas Sprigg).


1764 John Hesselius (1728-1778). Mrs. Richard Galloway.


1765 John Hesselius (1728-1778). Margaret Tilghman Carroll Mrs Charles Carroll the Barrister.


1765 John Hesselius (1728-1778). Sarah Taliaferro (Mrs. William Dainerfield).


1770 John Hesselius (1728-1778). Portrait of Susannah Rose Lawson (Mrs. Gavin Lawson)(1749-1825)


1771 John Hesselius (1728-1778). Ann Fitzhugh Rose.


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Squirrels in paintings of 18C American women + a couple of boys...

March 11, 2014, 1:00 am
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1757 Joseph Badger (American artist, 1708-1765). Rebecca Orne (later Mrs. Joseph Cabot)

In the British American colonies, people raided squirrel nests for their young, & the young squirrels were sold in the city markets. I am curious about animals appearing in paintings with 18C Americans. Are they real? Or are they just emblems symbolizing some quality trait of their owners?

Reliable art historians Roland E. Fleischer, Ellen Miles, Deborah Chotner, & Julie Aronson suggest that these squirrels are not real. They suggest that the squirrels are either copied from emblem books such as Emblems for the Improvement and Entertainment of Youth published in London in 1755, or from English prints. The latter theory is supported by the fact that some of the squirrels depicted in the paintings are composites of squirrels found in both America & England.  The 1755 emblem book describes the meaning of the emblem, "A Squirrel taking the Meat out of a Chestnut. Not without Trouble. An Emblem that Nothing that's worth having can be obtained without Trouble and Difficulty." 

Actually squirrels in imagery seem to have had various symbolic meanings throughout the ages. Sometimes they were seen as symbols of grasping covetousness; because of their hoarding food for winter, they were seen as greedy.  At other times they were seen as an affectionate friend. Later squirrels were symbolic of obedience & personal restraint.

All right, we all know that patience & diligence are virtues, but is there more than meets the eye here, or perhaps less?


1765 John Singleton Copley (American artist, 1738-1815). Frances Deering Wentworth (Mrs. Theodore Atkinson, Jr.)

British clergyman, Edward Topsell (c 1572-1625) , described squirrels in his Beastiary as “sweet sportful beasts and…very pleasant playfellows in a house,” despite their predilection for chewing up their owner’s woolen garments. Since they could easily chew their way through wood, special tin cages were developed, possessing metal bars sturdy enough to house them.

While visiting the British American colonies in 1748, Peter Kalm noted, “The gray and flying squirrels are so tamed by the boys that they sit on their shoulders and follow them everywhere.”   Colonial tinsmiths began making amusing cages for these pet squirrels in the forms of mills with waterwheels.

1760s William Williams (American artist, 1727-1791). Deborah Hall. Detail

From The Virginia Gazette, December 15, 1768
A young Lady's COMPLAINTon the DEATH of her SQUIRREL .

A thing so pretty as my PHIL,
A thing so sprightly and so queer,
The pet I lov'd so very dear,
To rob me of the pretty elf,

For him I've lost each night's repose,
Nothing enjoying but my woes.
Oh could my squirrel but survive,

But he is gone ! ne'er to return!
And useless 'tie to sigh and mourn.
I'll therefore seek another pet ,

Amongst the fops or empty beaus,
Because he'd surely make me fret,
And prove a very worthless pet.

In The Pennsylvania Gazette of October 10, 1771, Melcher Wisinger announced that he had wire work for sale including cages for birds and squirrels.

An advertisement in The Pennsylvania Gazette of October 10, 1792, gave notice that William Zane had for sale squirrel chains.

On Dec. 31, 1798, Philadelphia resident Elizabeth Drinker noted in her diary that her son William had “bought a flying squirrel in market, brought it home to please the children,” and added ruefully, “I should have been better pleased had it remained in the woods.” 

Later, in 1799, Drinker noted in another entry that. “An account in one of the late papers of a natural curiosity, I think ’tis called, to be seen in Walnut Street; a fine little bird, a beautiful flying squirrel, a rattlesnake, and other animals, are living in the most amicable terms in a neat, strong box or cage. William went yesterday to see them; the bird was hopping about, ye squirrel laying asleep in a corner; 2 or 3 frogs in the box; the snake appeared torpid, but would stir when disturbed by a stick. The torpid situation of ye snake accounts to me for their friendly living together.”

1770 Attributed to Cosmo Alexander (American artist, 1724-1772).

In the 19th century New American Cyclopaedia the squirrel is examined in detail. "The cat squirrel, the fox squirrel of the middle states, is...found chiefly in the middle states, rarely in southern New England; it is rather a slow climber, and of inactive habits; it becomes very fat in autumn, when its flesh is excellent, bringing in the New York market 3 times the price of that of the common gray squirrel...They are easily domesticated, and gentle in confinement, and are often kept as pets in wheel cages... The red or Hudson's bay squirrel...is less gentle and less easily tamed than the gray squirrel."



1760 Joseph Badger (American artist, 1708-1765). Portrait of Two Children. One hold a coral teething rattle and the boy on the left holds a pet squirrel.


Peter Kalm, the Swedish-Finnish explorer & naturalist who traveled through North America from 1748 - 1751, published an account of his travels in a journal En Resa til Norra America, which was translated into German, Dutch, French, & English.  He described more than squirrel pets in British colonial America.  Although there are no paintings including pet beavers or raccoons, Kalm noted,

“Beavers have been tamed to such an extent that they have brought home what they caught by fishing to their masters. This is often the case with otters, of which I have seen some that were as tame as dogs, and followed their master wherever he went; if he went out in a boat the otter went with him, jumped into the water and after a while came up with a fish."

“The raccoon can in time be made so tame as to run about the streets like a domestic animal; but it is impossible to make it leave off its habit of stealing. In the dark it creeps to the poultry, and kills a whole flock in one night. Sugar and other sweet things must be carefully hidden; for if the chests and boxes are not always locked, it gets into them and eats the sugar with its paw. The ladies, therefore, have some complaint against it every day."


1760 John Singleton Copley (American artist, 1738-1815). Boy (Henry Pelham) with a Squirrel.


1760 John Singleton Copley (American artist, 1738-1815). Boy (Henry Pelham) with a Squirrel. Detail


1771 John Singleton Copley (American artist, 1738-1815). Daniel Crommelin Verplanck with Squirrel


1790 Denison Limner Probably Joseph Steward (American artist, 1753-1822). Miss Denison of Stonington, Connecticut possibly Matilda.


1798 Ralph Earl (American artist, 1751-1801). Elizabeth Eliot (Mrs. Gershom Burr)


Squirrels appeared in paintings for centuries before these in the British American colonies & Early American Republic.


1519 Giovanni Cariani (1485–1547) 4 Courtesans, 3 Gentlemen, and 1 Squirrel


1519 Giovanni Cariani (1485–1547) 4 Courtesans, 3 Gentlemen, and 1 Squirrel Detail


 1526 Hans Holbein the Younger (1498–1543) Lady with a Squirrel on a chain


1526 Hans Holbein the Younger (1498–1543) Lady with a Squirrel Detail


 1565 Francesco Montemezzano (Italian, Venetian, ca. 1540–after 1602). Portrait of a Lady with a Squirrel on a chain with a bell collar.


1580s Portrait of a Lady, possibly the Poet Maddalena Salvetti (1557-1610), in a Green Dress and a pet Black Squirrel with a bell collar.


1650s Frans Luycx (1604–1668) Charles Joseph (1649-1664) Archduke of Austria with Squirrel


 1600s Frederic Kerseboom (1632-1690) Lady with a Red Squirrel on a chain and a Spaniel


 1700s Joseph Highmore (English artist, 1692-1780) A Portrait of a Boy with a Pet Squirrel.


 1730 Unknown French artist, Portrait of an Unknown French Lady Holding Flowers and a Red Squirrel with a bell collar.


 1736 Joseph Highmore (English artist, 1692-1780) The Family of Sir Eldred Lancelot Lee


1736 Joseph Highmore (English artist, 1692-1780) The Family of Sir Eldred Lancelot Lee Detail


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Pet Deer & Deer Parks in 18C America

March 13, 2014, 1:00 am
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1712 Justus Englehardt Kuhn (fl in Maryland 1708-1717). Charles Carroll of Annapolis (1702 - 1782). 

In colonial British America, the sons of gentry were painted with deer pets, while their elders often built reserves to protect & nurture deer. A deer park was a large enclosed natural area of wood & field on the pleasure grounds near a dwelling. It served as a refuge in which to keep & preserve natural & imported deer. A park is nature bounded, preserved, and protected for a wide range of uses & values.

Initially, deer were kept to be eaten. As economic stability increased & the industrial revolution began making inroads on rural life, the focus of the deer park changed from keeping deer for food and the pleasure of the hunt to keeping deer nearby in a natural setting to inspire & renew the owner's family & guests' social & psychological well-being.

Venison & buckskin became staples of the British American colonial economy with the first landings at Jamestown, & Plymouth. Deer were hunted by both the settlers & the native Americans. Once the natives learned that a venison haunch was worth a yard of fabric or a trade axe; they trapped, snared, & killed deer with impunity. By 1630, many coastal tribes had access to European firearms; and one Indian hunter with a gun could kill 5 or 6 deer in a day.

Deer declined rapidly along the Atlantic seaboard throughout the 17C. As early as 1639, authorities in Newport, Rhode Island recognized the danger of deer depletion and established the first closed season on deer hunting in the colonies. In 1646, the town of Portsmouth, Rhode Island, followed suit ordering a closed season on deer hunting “from the first of May till the first of November; and if any shall shoot a deere within that time he shall forfeit five pounds …” The ordinance set a pattern for laws adopted by most of the colonies by 1720.


c. 1730-1735 Gerardus Duyckinck (American artist, 1695-1746). De Peyster Boy with a deer.

The preamble of the Connecticut law reflected concern over the future of native deer,"The killing of deer at unseasonable times of the year hath been found very much to the prediudice of the Colonie, great numbers of them having been hunted and destroyed in deep snowes when they are very poor and big with young, the flesh and skins of very little value, and the increase greatly hindered."

In 1705, the General Assembly at Newport, Rhode Island, noted that it, "hath been informed that great quantities of deer hath been destroyed in this Collony out of season … and may prove much to the damage of this Collony for the future, and … to the whole country, if not prevented." And in 1705, New York passed a law to protect deer.

In 1727, Virginia's Governor William Gooch decided that he could turn the large deer park at the Governor's Palace in Williamsburg "to better use I think than Deer."

Deer laws varied from colony to colony, calling for closed seasons, sometimes terms of years, to the prohibition of using hounds; killing does; export & sale of deer skins; hunting with fire at night; & hunting on Sundays. The goal of these laws was to protect the food resource represented by deer.

Laws protecting deer were loosely enforced. There were only scattered convictions; and by 1750, there were relatively few deer left to protect near towns & larger rural communities. Frontier settlers still lived off the land and killed for venison & hides, when they needed them. Along the edges of the retreating American wilderness, natives & European market hunters still combed the thickets for game in all seasons, far from the reach of any local “deer reeve” or "deer warden." (In New England, these were the mid 18th-century government officers appointed to track down poachers.)

Poachers were dealt with much less seriously in the British American colonies than they were in mother England. In fact, Pennsylvania & Vermont allowed fishing & hunting on all open lands in their colonies. The 1696 Frame of Government of Pennsylvania stated, "That the inhabitants of this province and territories thereof, shall have liberty to fish and hunt, upon the lands they hold, or all other lands therein, not inclosed, and to fish in all waters in the said lands."


 1730s Gerardus Duyckinck (American artist, 1695-1746) Boy with a Deer - John Van Cortlandt (1718-1747) Note: The Brooklyn Museum, which owns this painting, relates that the artists (for this painting & the image above) employed a popular British mezzotint portrait print as the source for this composition and for details such as the fawn, the tree, the masonry wall, and the pilaster, as well as the curved stone step before the figure.

Peter Kalm, the Swedish-Finnish explorer and naturalist who traveled through North America from 1748 - 1751, published an account of his travels in a journal entitled En Resa til Norra America, which was translated into German, Dutch, French, and English.  Kalm noted that “The American deer can likewise be tamed. A farmer in New Jersey had one in his possession, which he caught when it was very young; at present, it is so tame that in the daytime it runs into the woods for its food, and towards night returns home, frequently bringing a wild deer out of the woods, giving its master an opportunity to hunt at his very door.”

Deer parks certainly existed in the New York area during this period.  Rev Andrew Burnaby described a deer park in New Jersey in 1760, "I went down two miles further to the park and gardens of...Peter Schuyler...in the park I saw several American and English deer, and three or four elks or moose-deer."

In 1764, the commandant at Fort Pitt near Pittsburg, Capt. Simeon Ecuyer, was in the midst of fencing the fort's gardens, when he commented on the fort's,  "deer park, the little garden and the bowling green, I am just now making into one garding, it will be extremely pretty and very useful to this garrison, the King's Garden will be put in proper order in due time we want seeds very much and we have no potatoes at all."

About 17 miles from Annapolis, Bel-Air, the estate of Marylander Benjamin Tasker, was advertised for sale in the 1761 Pennsylvania Gazette. The 2,200 acres contained a 100 acre deer park "well inclosed and stocked with English Deer."

In 1774, at the late John Smith estate in New Jersey, 5 miles from Burlington on the Anococus River, there was a deer park containg 375 acres in which there were 30-40 deer. The area was surrounded by 20,000 cedar rails in different fences according to the Pennsylvania Gazette.

Many gentry families did not worry about hunting meat for their tables. They simply raised their own supply. Edward Lloyd IV (1744–1796) was a planter from Talbot County, Maryland. He rebuilt the family home called Wye House in the 1780s. The house was then surrounded by 12,000 acres & tended by over 300 slaves.

English agricultural writer Richard Parkinson visited Wye House and wrote, "I then was introduced to Ed. Lloyd, Esq. at Why-House, a man of very extensive possessions...His house and gardens are what may be termed elegant: and the land appeared the best I ever saw in any one spot in America. He had a deer-park, which is a very rare thing there: I saw but two in the country; this, and another belonging to Colonel Mercer. These parks are but small—not above fifty acres each. I could scarcely tell what the deer lived on. There were only some of those small rushes growing in this park which bear the name of grass, and leaves of trees." When Lloyd died in 1796, his deer park contained 61 deer.

Parkinson was probably refering to Virginia-born John Francis Mercer (1759-1821) as the other gentleman who had a deer park. In 1785, he married Sophia Sprigg, the daughter of Richard & Margaret Sprigg of Maryland, following which he took up residence at "Cedar Park" on West River not far from Annapolis, the estate inherited by his wife from her father. He was elected Governor of Maryland in 1801, and was buried in the graveyard at the foot of the garden on his grounds. He left an estate valued at $16,978.75, including 73 slaves. Reportedly the English-style deer park was in a virgin stand of trees, including cedars, from which the estate took its name.

George Washington wrote in 1792, "I have about a dozen deer (some of which are the common sort) which are no longer confined in the Paddock which was made for them but range in all my woods and often pass my exterior fence"Washington received gifts of deer from friends & well wishers, as he did rare plants.

Early deer parks included those at the Waltham, Massachusettes estate of Theodore Lyman and at the Robinson Estate, built in 1750, opposite the present West Point Academy on the Hudson River. Deer in the landscape made the pleasure grounds surrounding these seats seem more "natural."

1745 Artist Frederick Tellschaw. Thomas Lodge with deer.

Historian Gary S Dunbar surveyed South Carolina records for mentions of tame deer. Here are a few of his findings from newspaper advertisements from Charleston,

(1732) “Stray’d out of Mr. Saxby’s Pasture up the Path, two tame Deer about a Year old."

(1751) “Wanted, some Doe Fawns, or young Does, for breeders.”

(1760) “Jumped over from on board the Samuel & Robert, a young deer, with a piece of red cloth round his neck…three pounds reward.”

(1761) “The Owner of a strayed Deer may hear where there is one, applying to the Printer hereof, and paying for this Advertisement.”

(1767) “Two tame Deer, a Buck and a Doe, to be sold by Francis Nicholson, in King-street.”

(1768) “Josiah Smith, junior…is in immediate want of …a couple of Tame Deer.”

(1770) “Stolen or Strayed out of my Yard this Morning, a Young Deer, his Horns just coming out, and is stiff in his hind legs, by being crampt in the Waggen which brought him to Town…Charles Crouch.”

(1772) “Wanted to Purchase. Four Deer, each about Three Years old.”

(1772) “Wanted immediately…Two Tame Deer.”

(1781) “A Tame Deer, Came to my garden about twelve days ago. The owner, on proving his property, and paying charges, shall have it again, by applying to Elizabeth Lamb, Near the Saluting Battery.”

By the late 18C, it seems that deer-keeping was in decline in Charleston. A visitor remarked in 1782, that “the deer formerly ran about the streets, with collars round their necks, like dogs, but at this latter visit, I do not remember to have seen one.”

Jedidiah Morse wrote in his 1789 Geography of the deer at Mount Vernon, Virginia, "A small park on the margin of the river, where the English fallow-deer, and American wild-deer are seen through the thickets."

Isaac Weld also commented in 1794, of the deer park at Mount Vernon, "The ground in the rear of the house is also laid out in a lawn, and the declivity of the Mount, towards the water, in a deer park."

Detail 1792 Artist Edward Savage (1761-1817). Mount Vernon with Deer.

George Mason's (1725-1792) son General John Mason (1766-1849) described the deer park at 18C Gunston Hall, Virginia, which sat on the Potomac River near Mount Vernon. "On this plain adjoining the margin of the hill, opposite to and in full view from the garden, was a deer park, studded with trees, kept well fenced and stocked with native deer domesticated."

In a description borrowing from Morse's 1789 depiction of George Washington's Mount Vernon in the Pennsylvania Gazette shortly after his death, his deer park was described. "A small park on the margin of the river, where the English fallow deer and the American wild deer are seen through the thickets alternately, with the vessels as they are sailing along, add a romantic and picturesque appearance to the whole scenery."

Anonymous, Hunting Scene, c 1800 at Winterthur

One noted deer owner of the period was Revolutionary War veteran Dr. Benjamin Jones. Born in Virginia in 1752, Jones eventually purchased a large tract of land in Henry County, where he built a park and “kept over a hundred deer to amuse his children and grandchildren. A little bell he used on a pet deer is owned by one of his descendants.”

The number of deer parks dwindled in the early republic. Many pleasure gardeners were not convinced of the romantic & picturesque asthetic potential of deer in the new republic, and became exasperated with the local destructive deer population.

The 19th-century would see more deer hunting than deer parks

In 1818, Rosalie Steir Calvert (1778–1821) wrote from her home Riversdale just outside of Washington DC in Prince George's County, Maryland, "I haven’t been able to enjoy the tulips because the deer come and eat them every night. We have eleven of these beautiful animals, so tame that they come all around the house...However, they do a lot of damage to the young fruit trees, and I am afraid we shall have to kill all of them this fall."

I could find no portraits of people attending deer, until I saw this wonderful image.


1775 Agostino Brunias (1728 - 1796) (Italian, active in Britain (1758-1770; 1777-1780s) Servants Washing a Deer

It has been nearly impossible to find American paintings of deer with women.  Early paintings in Europe & Britain do have portraits of women & families with accompanying deer.  Here are a few.


 Marcus Gheeraerts the Younger (1561–1636) Woman with a Deer


 Attributed to Claude Deruet (c 1588-1660) Marie de Rohan, Duchess of Chevreuse 1600-1679 as Diana the Huntress


 Jan van Balen (1611–1654) Allegory of Hearing


 John Michael Wright (British artist, 1617–1694) Unknown Lady in a Red Mantle with a Deer


 Nicolaes Maes, (Dutch painter, 1634-1693) A Girl with a Deer


 1687 Nicolaes Maes, (Dutch painter, 1634-1693) Mother and Children in a Park


 Circle of Joseph Highmore (English artist, 1692-1780) Daughters of Crisp Molineaux, Elizabeth.


 1789 Johann Heinrich Wilhelm Tischbein (1751-1829) Lady Charlotte Campbell


1811 François Gérard (1770–1837) Elisa Bonaparte and her Daughter in the Boboli Gardens in Florence


Dunbar, Gary S.. “Deer-Keeping in Early South Carolina,”Agricultural History, Vol. 36, No. 2 (Apr., 1962)


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