Women in the 19C United States of America: A Few Portraits of Women by Sarah Miriam Peale (American painter, 1800-1885)

Wednesday, October 13, 2021

A Few Portraits of Women by Sarah Miriam Peale (American painter, 1800-1885)

Sarah Miriam Peale was a daughter of artist James Peale, brother of artist Charles Willson Peale, who both taught her to paint. As a young girl, she assisted her father & her sister, Anna Claypoole Peale, with fabric painting of shawls.

Sarah Miriam Peale (American painter, 1800-1885) Artist's Self-Portrait 1818 Detail

Sarah Miriam Peale started her solo art career in 1816, with still life subjects but soon turned to portraiture, which brought her lifelong acclaim. Lafayette sat for her 4 times.

Sarah Miriam Peale (American painter, 1800-1885) Anna Maria Smyth 1821

In 1818 & 1820, she spent time in Baltimore with Rembrandt Peale, her cousin, who influenced both her painting style & choice of subject matter. For 25 years, she painted in Baltimore (1822-47) & intermittently, in Washington, D.C.

Sarah Miriam Peale (American painter, 1800-1885) Cornelia Mandeville 1830

She lived & painted in St. Louis, Missouri, for about 30 years (1847-77); but returned to Philadelphia, where she died in 1885. Sarah Miriam Peale never married & supported herself with sale of her paintings.

Sarah Miriam Peale (American painter, 1800-1885) Eleanor Smith Gittings, c. 1830

Sarah Miriam Peale (American painter, 1800-1885) Mrs William Crane 1840

Sarah Miriam Peale (American painter, 1800-1885) Mrs. Charles Ridgely Carroll
(Rebecca Ann Pue) 1822

Sarah Miriam Peale (American painter, 1800-1885) Mrs. Rubens Peale and Son, 1823

Sarah Miriam Peale (American painter, 1800-1885) Patience Cole Cortland c 1840

Sarah Miriam Peale (American painter, 1800-1885) Self-Portrait 1830

Sarah Miriam Peale (American painter, 1800-1885) Veiled Woman 1830

About this blog

In colonial America, men were considered superior to woman in all ways. In a strict patriarchal hierarchy, men controlled not only wealth & political power but also how their children were raised, religious questions, & all matters of right & wrong.

In the early part of the 19Cy, however, many Americans experienced a revolution in gender. The doctrine of “separate spheres” maintained that woman’s sphere was the world of privacy, family, & morality while man’s sphere was the public world -– economic striving, political maneuvering, & social competition. But women were interested in equality.

In 1848, New York passed the Married Woman’s Property Act. Now a woman wasn’t automatically liable for her husband’s debts; she could enter contracts on her own; she could collect rents or receive an inheritance in her own right; she could file a lawsuit on her own behalf. She became for economic purposes, an individual. By 1900, every state has passed legislation modeled after this, granting married women some control over their property and earnings.

In 1870 after the Civi War, the 15th Amendment was ratified, saying, “The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.” African-Americans could vote, but women could not.

But it was not until 1920, that the 19th Amendment was ratified granting women the right to vote. “The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex.”