Sarah Chew Elliott O'Donnell
Artist
Charles Willson Peale
(American, 1741-1827)
CultureAmerican
Date1787
MediumOil on canvas
DimensionsOverall, Frame: 36 1/8 x 27 1/2 in. (91.8 x 69.9 cm)
InscribedSigned and dated, lower right, with ligature: CWPeale;
pinx 1787
Credit LineGift of Mrs. Frank Batten
Object number62.94.1
Collections
On View
Chrysler Museum of Art, Gallery 209
Label TextCharles Willson Peale American, 1741—1827 Mary Chew Elliott, 1787 Oil on canvas Mary O’Donnell, 1791 Oil on canvas Sarah Chew Elliott O’Donnell, 1787 Oil on canvas This group of portraits depicts three generations of women from the same wealthy Baltimore family in a manner that highlights both their elevated social status and embodiment of ideal virtues ascribed to upper-class women in eighteenth-century America. While the elder Mary Chew Elliot appears restrained in an elegant but simple domestic setting, her daughter Sarah O’Donnell’s portrait signals her worldly sophistication by including a neoclassical backdrop, reminiscent of British portraiture. Meanwhile, the young Mary O’Donnell grasps a pair of cherries, a common symbol of youthful innocence, while an opulent teething rattle made of coral and gold dangles from her sash. Gifts of Mrs. Frank Batten 63.112.1, 61.91.1, and 62.94.1ProvenanceDescended in the family to the eldest daughter in each generation: Lila (or Eliza) Berrett George Parke, Norfolk, 1911 or 1912; her daughter, Mary Eugenia Parke; her niece, Jane Neal Parke Batten (Mrs. Frank Batten); Norfolk Museum of Arts and Sciences, 1962. (The Norfolk Museum of Arts and Sciences became the Chrysler Museum in 1971.) Exhibition HistoryNational Collection of Fine Arts at the Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C., 1917-1945. [The collection that now makes up the Smithsonian American Art Museum was called the National Gallery of Art from 1905 to 1937, the National Collection of Fine Arts until 1980, and the National Museum of American Art after 1980.] Norfolk Museum of Arts and Sciences, Norfolk, Va., 1945-1971. "Treasures from the Norfolk Museum," Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, Va., January 16 - 22, 1962. "Three Hundred Years of American Art in the Chrysler Museum," Chrysler Museum at Norfolk, Va., March 1 - July 4, 1976. "Can-ton: The Baltimore Series," Peale Museum, Baltimore, Md., March 19 - September 3, 1995. "Feminine Images: American Portraits, 1750-1860," Daughters of the American Revolution Museum, Washington, D.C., July 1 - Oct. 31, 2001. "Behind the Seen: The Chrysler's Hidden Museum," Large Changing Gallery, Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, Va., October 21, 2005 - February 19, 2006. "Reopening of the Joan P. Brock Galleries," Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, Va., Opening in March of 2008. Published ReferencesCharles Coleman Sellers, "Portraits and Miniatures by Charles Willson Peale," _Transactions of the American Philosophical Society_ 42, part 1 (1952): no. 599, fig. 186. George H. Tucker, "Peale Portrait Trio Unique," _Virginian-Pilot_ (Sunday, April 18, 1965): C3. Eloise Spaeth, _American Art Museums: An Introduction to Looking_ (New York: McGraw Hill, 1969), 165-166. Dennis R. Anderson, _Three Hundred Years of American Art in the Chrysler Museum_, exh. cat., Norfolk, Va., 1975, 85. Norman G. Rukert, _Historic Canton: Baltimore's Industrial Heartland and its People_ (Baltimore: The Peale Museum, 1978), 13. M. J. Gibbs, "Precious Artifacts: Women's Jewelry in the Chesapeake, 1750-1799," _Journal of Early Southern Decorative Arts_ 13.1 (May 1987): 74-75. "The Year in Pictures - 1787," _Life_ 10.10 (Fall 1987): 28-29, ill. Ellen G. Miles, _American Paintings of the Eighteenth Century_ (Washington, D.C.: National Gallery of Art, 1995), 134. Anne Verplankt, "The Social Meanings of Portrait Miniatures in Philadelphia, 1760-1820," _American Material Culture: The Shape of the Field_, ed. Ann Smart Martin and J. Ritchie Garrison (Winterthur, Del.: Henry Francis du Pont Winterthur Museum, 1997): 206-208. Martha N. Hagood and Jefferson C. Harrison, _American Art at the Chrysler Museum: Selected Paintings, Sculpture, and Drawings_ (Norfolk, Va.: Chrysler Museum of Art, 2005), 26-27, no. 5. ISBN: 0-940744-71-6
19th century
Pair/Pair