Not on display

Portrait of a girl in a blue dress

Portrait Miniature
1817 (made)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

Anna Claypoole Peale was a highly succesful miniature painter in Philadelphia in the early nineteenth century. She worked as a professional painter as early as age 14 and was elected an Academician of the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts in 1824. Peale came from a renowned family of Pennsylvania portrait painters, including her father James Peale and her uncle Charles Wilson Peale. Although the family was associated with abolitionism, the Peales are known to have enslaved multiple people, including the silhouette artist Moses Williams, who was likely taught the art alongside the Peale children.

Object details

Categories
Object type
TitlePortrait of a girl in a blue dress (generic title)
Materials and techniques
Watercolour on ivory
Brief description
Portrait miniature, Portrait of a girl, by Anna Claypoole Peale, watercolour on ivory, 1817
Physical description
Oval portrait miniature on ivory in a papier-mache frame of a little girl in a blue dress, signed and dated by the artist.
Dimensions
  • Height: 70mm (Note: Noted in curatorial file)
  • Width: 61mm (Note: Noted in curatorial file)
Marks and inscriptions
  • Anna C Peale

    Note
    Signed

  • 1817

    Note
    Dated

Historical context
Portrait miniatures were frequently exchanged between loved ones and family during the eighteenth and early-nineteenth century as tokens of affection and remembrance.
Subjects depicted
Summary
Anna Claypoole Peale was a highly succesful miniature painter in Philadelphia in the early nineteenth century. She worked as a professional painter as early as age 14 and was elected an Academician of the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts in 1824. Peale came from a renowned family of Pennsylvania portrait painters, including her father James Peale and her uncle Charles Wilson Peale. Although the family was associated with abolitionism, the Peales are known to have enslaved multiple people, including the silhouette artist Moses Williams, who was likely taught the art alongside the Peale children.
Bibliographic reference
Anne Hirshorn, 'Legacy of Ivory: Anne Claypoole Peale's Portrait Miniatures,' Bulletin of the Detroit Institute of Arts 64 no. 4 (1989).
Collection
Accession number
P.6-1982

About this object record

Explore the Collections contains over a million catalogue records, and over half a million images. It is a working database that includes information compiled over the life of the museum. Some of our records may contain offensive and discriminatory language, or reflect outdated ideas, practice and analysis. We are committed to addressing these issues, and to review and update our records accordingly.

You can write to us to suggest improvements to the record.

Suggest feedback

Record createdJune 30, 2009
Record URL
Download as: JSONIIIF Manifest