| Preview | Description
  | Artist | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
 | Mrs. Francis Schroeder (Caroline Seaton) by Richard Morrell Staigg ca. 1849 Smithsonian American Art Museum Washington, D.C. | Staigg, Richard Morrell |  Caroline Seaton Schroeder was the daughter of William Seaton, the owner of the newspaper the National Intelligencer, mayor of Washington, D.C., and a regent of the Smithsonian. The pencil outline of Mrs. Schroeders dress makes her portrait appear unfinished, as the lower portion of her dress is without color. Richard Morell Staigg used a similar... |
 | Mrs. George Washington Rodgers (Ann Perry) by Anson Dickinson ca. 1815 Smithsonian American Art Museum Washington, D.C. | Dickinson, Anson | With her dark ringlets and sheer white dress, Ann Perry Rodgers (1798-1850) is the picture of modern sophisticated fashion sense and dramatic allure. Her marriage in 1815 to Commodore George Washington Rodgers united two of the most prominent naval families in Annapolis. Ann’s brother, Oliver Hazard Perry, was but one of many decorated officers in... |
 | Mrs. George Watson by John Singleton Copley 1765 Smithsonian American Art Museum Washington, D.C. | Copley, John Singleton | Mrs. Watson, the wife of a wealthy Boston merchant, wears a fashionably low-cut gown of luscious satin and white lace and holds a porcelain vase that echoes the contours of her figure. The yards of expensive fabric and silk ribbons in the costume testified to George Watson's success as an importer of European goods, as did the fact that he could... |
 | Mrs. George Willig by Philippe Abraham Peticolas 1804 Smithsonian American Art Museum Washington, D.C. | Peticolas, Philippe Abraham | George Willig (1764-1851) was a German expatriate who, arriving in Philadelphia in 1794, took over the first music publishing company in America. He published sheet music through the 1840s, and his son, George Jr., ran a Baltimore branch of the firm from 1829 to 1879. Given Peticolass serious interest in music, it seems appropriate that he would... |
 | Mrs. James Morris by Henry Colton Shumway ca. 1845 Smithsonian American Art Museum Washington, D.C. | Shumway, Henry Colton | Henry Colton Shumway painted these portraits of Mr. and Mrs. James Morris around 1845. There are several men by the name of James Morris living in New York at this time, so without further information it is difficult to establish the identity of these sitters. Mr. and Mrs. Morris are shown seated on red chairs in identical poses, their bodies held... |
 | Mrs. James Reid Lambdin (Mary O'Hara Cochran) by James Reid Lambdin ca. 1850 Smithsonian American Art Museum Washington, D.C. | Lambdin, James Reid | |
 | Mrs. James Smith And Grandson by Charles Willson Peale 1776 Smithsonian American Art Museum Washington, D.C. | Peale, Charles Willson | |
 | Mrs. James Suydam (Charlotte Heyer) by John Carlin 1859 Smithsonian American Art Museum Washington, D.C. | Carlin, John | |
 | Mrs. John Jordan, Jr. by John Henry Brown 1848 Smithsonian American Art Museum Washington, D.C. | Brown, John Henry | We know nothing about this woman, who appears here in a simple dress of sheer fabric, with a small locket at her throat. The locket may contain a miniature, as artists during the nineteenth century often showed their sitters wearing a token similar to the one being painted. |
 | Mrs. John McCluney by James Peale ca. 1795 Smithsonian American Art Museum Washington, D.C. | Peale, James | It is not clear whether this woman is Elizabeth Purviance, who was married to Major John McCluney of Pennsylvania in 1804, or if she is Isabella Shearer of Virginia, who married a John McCluney in 1779. With luck, further research will eventually reveal her identity. |
- Smithsonian American Art Museum
