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Portrait of a Woman

ca. 1775
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 774
Although this picture and its companion (26.129.1) are unsigned, they are firmly attributed by Peale authorities to the artist and dated around 1775. The identity of the sitters is not known. The works are absent from Peale's own list of his early works, making it likely that they were painted as gifts for close friends or family members. The sitter, who wears a fashionable muslin Dormeuse cap of the late 1770s or early 1780s, resembles two of Peale's sisters, Margaret Jane (Mrs. Nathaniel Ramsay, 1743–1788) and Elizabeth Digby Polk (1747–ca. 1776). Mrs. Polk's husband was a shipmaster, which could account for the gold anchor stickpin, a symbol of hope, worn on her chest.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Portrait of a Woman
  • Artist: Charles Willson Peale (American, Chester, Maryland 1741–1827 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania)
  • Date: ca. 1775
  • Culture: American
  • Medium: Oil on canvas
  • Dimensions: 9 3/4 x 7 7/8 in. (24.8 x 20 cm)
  • Credit Line: Fletcher Fund, 1926
  • Object Number: 26.129.2
  • Curatorial Department: The American Wing

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Reverend Joseph Pilmore
Charles Willson Peale (American, Chester, Maryland 1741–1827 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania)
1787
Portrait of the Marquis de Lafayette
After Charles Willson Peale (American, Chester, Maryland 1741–1827 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania)
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Portrait of a Lady
Charles Willson Peale (American, Chester, Maryland 1741–1827 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania)
ca. 1778
A South East View of Christ's Church, Philadelphia, in "The Columbian Magazine, or, Monthly Miscellany"
Probably after Charles Willson Peale (American, Chester, Maryland 1741–1827 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania)
December 1787
American Generals: Warren, Montgomery, Wayne, Green
before 1841

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