Women artists in all ages and countriesEllet, E. F. (Elizabeth Fries)
History
Women artists in all ages and countries
Ellet, E. F. (Elizabeth Fries)
Women artists
Mrs. Ball Hughes, of Boston, the wife of the sculptor, supported her
family by painting and by giving lessons in the art. Mrs. Chapin had a
large drawing school in Providence, and, with facility in every style,
is said to be admirable in crayons. Many others might be mentioned, but
it does not comport with the design of this work to record even the
names of _all_ who deserve the tribute of praise.
ANNA C. PEALE (MRS. DUNCAN).
Several ladies of the Peale family have been distinguished as artists,
and are mentioned in the histories of painting in America. The
parents of the subject of this sketch were Captain James Peale and
Mary Claypoole. Her maternal ancestors, the Claypooles, came to this
country with William Penn, and were among the earliest settlers in
Philadelphia. They claimed direct descent from Oliver Cromwell, whose
daughter Elizabeth married Sir John Claypoole.
James Peale had great celebrity as a painter, and excelled both in
miniatures and oil portraits. He was not only remarkable for success
in his likenesses, but had the faculty of making them handsome withal,
so that he was called among his acquaintances “the flattering artist.”
This pleasing effect he gave, not by altering the features, but by
happy touches of expression; and it was one secret of his eminent
success. He painted, from actual sittings, several portraits of General
Washington and Mrs. Washington. One, a miniature, is now in the
possession of his eldest daughter.
On one occasion, when Washington was sitting for his portrait in Mr.
Peale’s painting-room, he looked at his watch, and said,
“Mr. Peale, my time for sitting has expired; but, if three minutes
longer will be of any importance to you, I will remain, and make up the
time by hastening my walk up to the State House (where Congress was in
session). I know exactly how long it will take me to walk there; and it
will not do for me, as President, to be absent at the hour of meeting.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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