American Furniture, Folk & Decorative Arts

Provenance:

Philadelphia Museum of Art, Gift of Mrs. Daniel J. McCarthy, 1953,

Elizabeth White McCarthy (1891-1976), a collector and artist of portrait miniatures, was a member of the American Society of Miniature Painters. She presented a number of historic English and American portrait miniatures to the Philadelphia Museum of Art in 1953 and 1955.

Sold by order of the Board of Trustees of the Philadelphia Museum of Art to benefit acquisitions.

Note:

In 1800, a year after Washington's death, Martha Washington commissioned Field, her favorite portrait miniature artist, to paint a group of commemorative miniatures of her husband for family and close friends. Two portrait miniatures were commissioned showing Washington in full military dress, and at least six showing Washington in civilian dress. This portrait is likely one of the miniatures commissioned by Martha Washington.

Born in London and trained at the Royal Academy, Robert Field arrived in the United States in 1794, with aspirations of depicting the new nation's cultural and political elite. Traveling first to Baltimore, and then to the temporary capital of Philadelphia, Field joined an active group of native and foreign-born artists--prominent among them, Charles Willson Peale, James Peale and Gilbert Stuart. George Washington was the most coveted subject, and Stuart, creator of highly desirable portraits of the first president, declared Field to be the era's greatest portrait miniaturist. This advocacy supported Field's ability to secure numerous commissions of miniature versions of Gilbert Stuart's portraits of Washington.

Literature:

Carol Eaton Soltis, "Philadelphia Portrait miniatures 1760-1860", Antiques & Fine Art (Spring 2009), fig.1.