American Women in Miniatures by Sarah & Eliza Goodridge Goodrich (1788-1853)

Sarah Goodridge Goodrich (American miniaturist, 1788-1853) Self-Portrait c 1825

Miniaturitst Sarah Goodridge (or sometimes Goodrich, 1788-1853) was born the 6th of 9 children in Massachusetts in 1788. It is said that as a child, she came across a book on drawing & painting & taught herself to draw. Growing up on a farm, with little money to buy paper, she drew her earliest pictures on the sanded kitchen floor with a stick or on sheets of peeled birch bark with a pin. Sarah's younger sister Eliza Goodridge (1798-1882) also painted miniatures.

Sarah Goodridge Goodrich (American miniaturist, 1788-1853) Self Portrait 1830

After the death of their father, Sarah moved to Boston, to live with her sister Eliza. There Sarah was able to expand her birch-bark-beginning by taking a few lessons from a miniaturist & by visiting portraitist Gilbert Stuart for advice. She soon began earning a living by painting miniature portraits. By 1830, Sarah Goodridge was a leading miniaturist in Boston, completing up to 3 portraits a week; supporting her sick mother & her orphaned niece; & maintianing a studio there. The Boston Athenaeum held 5 exhibitions of her work between 1827 & 1835. She never married, but she had an intimate, influential friend.

Sarah Goodridge Goodrich (American miniaturist, 1788-1853) Daniel Webster 1825
She developed an ongoing love relationship with Boston lawyer & politician Daniel Webster (1782-1852), who was married with 3 children, when she painted his 1st portrait. He returned to sit for 12 more portraits over the next 25 years. Their friendship is documented in 44 letters that Webster wrote to Goodridge between 1827 & 1851. She carefully preserved his letters to her; he destroyed her letters to him. His first wife, Grace, died in January, 1828; & he married Caroline LeRoy in December, 1829. In 1850, due to failing eyesight, Sarah Goodridge retired to a house she bought in Reading, Massachusetts. Three years later she died of a stroke at the age of 65. Her sister Eliza lived until 1882.

Sarah Goodridge Goodrich (American miniaturist, 1788-1853) Self Portrait Painting a Miniature 1845

Sarah Goodridge Goodrich (American miniaturist, 1788-1853) Girl Called Persis, 

Child of Mrs Solomon Sargent

Sarah Goodridge Goodrich (American miniaturist, 1788-1853) Sarah Appleton with Cat

Eliza Goodridge (American miniaturist, 1798-1882) Lydia Stiles Foster (1806-87) c 1838

Eliza Goodridge (American miniaturist, 1798-1882) Mary Maccarty Stiles (1807-1872) c 1825

Eliza Goodridge (American miniaturist, 1798-1882) Mary Stiles Newcomb (1807-1872) c 1840

Eliza Goodridge (American miniaturist, 1798-1882) Rebecca Faulkner Foster (1761-1834) c 1830

Eliza Goodridge (American miniaturist, 1798-1882) Julia Porter Dwight 1832

Eliza Goodridge (American miniaturist, 1798-1882) Sophia Dwight Foster Burnside (1787-1871) c 1830

Eliza Goodridge (American miniaturist, 1798-1882) Lydia Stiles (1806-1887) c. 1825

Eliza Goodridge (American miniaturist, 1798-1882) Mary Maccarty Stiles (1775-1838) c 1825

Eliza Goodridge (American miniaturist, 1798-1882) Mary Maccarty Stiles (1807-72) c 1837.

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

American Folk Art - Quirky Portraits of Early 19C American Women

Almira Wheaton (American, 1804-1881)  Lady in a Straw Hat 1824-1825

Several New England artists shared a unique painting style during the 1820s-30s. Women depicted by these artists exhibit several similar characteristics - pale, sculptural faces; prominent thin, delicately arched eyebrows; small bowed mouths; & elaborate classical Greek hairstyles of tight curls intertwined with jewelry, flowers, & other adornments.  The paintings are usually watercolors.  The artists paint strong features, sharply defined, with arched, curved eyebrows.  The watercolors are similar to fashion plates appearing in magazines such as Ackerman’s Repository of Arts, Literature, Commerce, Manufactures, Fashions & Politics, published in London in 1809 through 1829.

Almira Wheaton (American artist, 1804-1881)  The first with label on reverse inscribed "Painted or drawn/ by Almira Wheaton Saben/ my great grandmother."

I can only find 2 paintings by Almira Wheaton Saben, who appears in the 1860 US census, she was then living in Winchester, Cheshire County, New Hampshire. She was born September 9, 1804 in Vermont. Her father was Reuben Wheaton. She married Mowry Saben (1801-1880) on February 5, 1835, in Winchester, Cheshire County, New Hampshire. She died there on May 11, 1881. She had 6 children between 1835 and 1844. All of them died by 1845. After that she had 2 children, Levi born in 1844-1912, and Mary born in 1847-1926. Son Levi married Mary A Tolman on January 1, 1869. They had a son Alfred Levi Saben in December of 1869-1930, a son Delano Mowry Saben in 1879-1947, & a daughter Laura Emma in 1882-1964.

A Fashionable, but Unidentified 1830s Woman from Jonas W. Holman 1805-1873

Jonas W. Holman (1805-1873) grew up in Maine. In 1824, he studied theology at Waterville (Colby) College in Maine. He moved to the Boston area by the 1830s, where he was a minister and portrait painter. He continued his education at Harvard Medical College graduating in 1843, adding physician to his list of occupations. Between 1857 & 1860, Holman lived in New York City, where he was listed as a clergyman. He also traveled to Philadelphia and Connecticut.

Women Reading by Seymour Joseph Guy (1824-1910)

Seymour Joseph Guy (1824-1910) Summer Issue

Although born in England, Seymour Joseph Guy became one of America’s most famous genre painters, celebrated for his delicate genre paintings of women & children in domestic environments. Several of his paintings revolved around reading.

Seymour Joseph Guy (1824-1910) An Interesting Book

In 1852 he married Anna Maria Barber (c. 1832–1907), daughter of William Barber, an engraver. The couple had 9 children who could serve as models for their father.

Seymour Joseph Guy (1824-1910) Preparing for the next day, Seymour 1895

Guy immigrated to America in 1854, and immediately entered the artists’ circles present in New York, mainly forging his path as a portraitist and later, a genre painter.

Seymour Joseph Guy (1824-1910) Dear Polly

In 1861, he was listed as a founding member of the Brooklyn Art Association and named an associate of the National Academy the next year.

Seymour Joseph Guy (1824-1910) Young Girl Reading 1877

Seymour Joseph Guy (1824-1910) The Reading Lesson.

Genre Paintings of Everyday Life in 19C America

William Smith Jewett (American artist, 1812–1873) The Promised Land The Grayson Family.

George Caleb Bingham (American artist, 1811-1879) Raftsmen playing cards

George Caleb Bingham (American artist, 1811-1879) The Jolly Floatmen

George Caleb Bingham (American artist, 1811-1879)Fur Traders Going down the Missouri

Henry Mosler (American artist, 1841 – 1920) Just Moved

Henry Ossawa Tanner (American artist, 1859–1937) Spinning by Firelight

James Wells Champney (American artist, 1843–1903) Wedding Presents

Jerome B. Thompson (1814–1886) Apple Gathering

Jervis McEntee (American painter, 1828-1891)  Little Fisher Girl 1875

Otto Henry Bacher (American painter, 1856-1909) Richfield Center, Ohio, 1885

Theodor Kaufmann (American painter, 1814–1896) On To Liberty

Thomas Le Clear (American artist, 1818–1862) Young America

Thomas Prichard Rossiter (American artist, 1818–1871) Spilt Milk

Thomas Waterman Wood (American artist, 1823–1903) Election Returns

Thomas Waterman Wood (American artist, 1823–1903) His First Vote

Thomas Waterman Wood (American artist, 1823–1903) Politics in the Workshop

Thomas Waterman Wood (American artist, 1823–1903) The Toothache - His Own Doctor

Thomas Waterman Wood (American artist, 1823–1903) The Yankee Peddler

William Lippincott (American artist, 1849–1920) Love Finds the Way

William Lippincott (American artist, 1849–1920) Love's Ambush