19C US Women Ponder Slavery, Voting, & Working Outside the Home: January 2022

Monday, January 31, 2022

19th-Century Women by Robert Street 1796-1865 of Philadelphia

1831 Robert Street (1796-1865). Mary Fenner Hall.

1831 Robert Street (1796-1865). Mary Arell Browne Walton.

1834 Robert Street (1796-1865). Elizabeth Price Thomas.

1834 Robert Street (1796-1865). Mrs. Napoleon Leidy.

1836 Robert Street (1796-1865). Ann Marie Vick and daughter.

1856 Robert Street (1796-1865).

1838 Robert Street (1796-1865). Sarah Sommer Sims .

Saturday, January 29, 2022

Early 19th-Century Kentucky Women by Willliam L. Turner

.William L. Turner reportedly painted in Elizabethtown, in Hardin County, Kentucky in 1824, and a few years earlier in Mason County in Kentucky.

c 1820 William L. Turner, Mrs. "Napper" Tandy of Mason County, Kentucky.

William L. Turner, Mrs. Elizabeth Huddleston of Mason County, Kentucky.

Thursday, January 27, 2022

19th-Century American Women by Sheldon Peck 1797-1868

Sheldon Peck (1797-1868) Elizabeth Ann Ferris Preston c 1825.

Sheldon Peck (1797-1868).

Sheldon Peck (1797-1868) Mrs Dodge

Sheldon Peck (1797-1868) Frances Almira Millener and Fanny Root Millener

Sheldon Peck (1797-1868) Phebe Welch 1837

Sheldon Peck (1797-1868) Portrait of a Woman 1825

Sheldon Peck (1797-1868) Portrait of Miss Dodge

Sheldon Peck (1797-1868) Anna Gould Crand and Granddaughter Jenette 1837
Born in Cornwall, Vermont in 1797, Sheldon Peck was an itinerant, self-taught painter. Although he did not sign his work, his paintings are distinctive and easily recognized. Subjects often have piercing eyes and serious expressions.

Sheldon Peck (American painter, 1797-1868) Mrs Murry 1820-25
Peck had three distinct artistic periods: The Vermont period (1820-1827), The New York period (1828-1836) and the Illinois period (after 1836). While in Illinois, Peck found success as a farmer, a community education leader & portraitist; he died in 1868.

Sheldon Peck (1797-1868).

Tuesday, January 25, 2022

Ammi Phillips 1788-1865

.Ammi Phillips (1788–1865), a mostly self-taught New England portrait painter, was born in Colebrook, Connecticut.

Ammi Phillips (1788-1865) 14-year-old Mary Ann Gale 1815
In 1809 when he was 21, he traveled to Pittsfield, Massachusetts, where he advertised in the Berkshire Reporter that he was eager to & capable of painting portraits for potential clients.

Ammi Phillips (1788-1865) Mrs. Goodrich and Child
These early notices are the only ads he is known to have placed in any local newspaper. Phillips declared that he would portray his clients with “perfect shadows and elegantly dressed in the prevailing fashions of the day.” It was a promise that Phillips kept for the next 5 decades. His work changed as the fashion, furnishings, customs, & styles of everyday life in 19th-century America changed over time.

Ammi Phillips (1788-1865) 1812 Mrs. Sarah Cornwell Everests
Scholars speculate that his portraits may have been influenced by the work of Connecticut artist Reuben Moulthrop (1763-1814), who had painted Phillips’ namesake, the Reverend Ammi Ruhamah Robbins, in nearby Norfolk. Phillips seems to have known the work of Massachusetts artist, James Brown (active 1806-1808). An 1808 portrait by Brown appears to have served as the model for an 1811 portrait produced by Phillips.

Ammi Phillips (1788-1865) 1813 Patience Bolles Stoddard
His early portraits portray almost awkward, even stiff women with almond-shaped eyes and slightly off-center mouths. The method shows heavy outlining, a few props held in their hands, & simple, plain backgrounds. Over the following decades, most of his clients are holding something in their hands including sprigs of flowers; toys; books & letters; handmade needlework; and fashion accessories such as purses & even umberellas.

Ammi Phillips (1788-1865) c 1814-19 Mrs. Crane
By the mid-1820s, Phillips' sitters are more Romantic following the aesthetic of the period. They are strong women with a delicate beauty clothed in the shimmering, pearly colors typical of the Romantic age. As one decade turned to another, Phillips' 1830s seated women became more realistic image reflecting the ideal Republican mother. They are seated and leaning forward from the waist and their determined faces sit atop long, graceful necks.

Ammi Phillips (1788-1865) c 1815-19 Mrs. Stoddard Holding Bible
By the 1840s, Phillips had serious competition, less expensive photographic portraits. His portraits after that period reflect the rich, saturated colors of the Victorian years. His portraits are more staged reflecting popular studio photography. His women are more realistically portrayed bringing the life-like aspect of photography to the canvas.

Ammi Phillips (1788-1865) 1815 Harriet Leavens
He worked as an itinerant painter in Connecticut, Massachusetts, & New York over 5 decades painting hundreds of portraits. Between 1811 and 1862, Phillips created at least 600 paintings which are attributed to his hand that still exist.