Mehitable Jones Hatch

Artist Sarah Bushnell Perkins (American, 1771 - 1831)

CultureAmerican

Dateca. 1791

MediumPastel drawing on paper, mounted on canvas

DimensionsOverall, Frame: 18 7/8 x 15 5/8 x 3/4 in. (47.9 x 39.7 x 1.9 cm)

Credit LineGift of Edgar William and Bernice Chrysler Garbisch

Object number80.264.10

On View

Not on view

DescriptionThis is a pastel drawing on paper, mounted on canvas. It is a portrait of a woman with long black hair, a thin black ribbon around her neck, and a dress with a white top.

Label TextSarah Bushnell Perkins American, 1771–1831 Alpheus Hatch and Mehitable Jones Hatch, ca. 1791 Pastel drawings on paper, mounted on canvas Like her brother Walter P. Chrysler, Jr., Bernice Garbisch was a prolific art collector. She and her husband, Edgar, were pioneers in the field of early American folk or naïve painting—a loose category referring to works by artists who were self-taught or lacked extensive formal training, such as Sarah Perkins from rural Plainfield, Connecticut. The Garbisches initially used these paintings and drawings to decorate their estate on Maryland’s Eastern Shore. As the collection grew to over 2,600 works, they began donating many to museums, including the National Gallery of Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the Chrysler Museum. Gifts of Edgar William and Bernice Chrysler Garbisch 80.264.9–.10 Exhibition History"101 American Primitive Water Colors and pastels from the collection of Edgar William and Bernice Chrysler Garbisch," National Gallery of Art, Oct. 8 - Nov. 20, 1966; Metropolitan Museum of Art, Dec. 15, 1966 - Feb. 13, 1967. "Women of the Chrysler: a 400-Year Celebration of the Arts," Large Changing Gallery, Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, Va., March 24 - July 18, 2010. "Drawn from the Vault: Collecting American Works on Paper at the Chrysler Museum," Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, VA, May 10 - July 27, 2014.Published ReferencesWilliam L. Warren, "Six Connecticut Pastels," _Antiques_ (June 1961): 554-556. _101 American Primitive Water Colors and Pastels_, exh. cat., National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C., 1966, 23, no. 7. Colleen Heslip and Helen Kellogg, "The Beardsley Limner Identified as Sarah Perkins," _Antiques_ 126, no. 3 (September 1984): 548-565, fig. 3.