Lady Williams and Child

Lady Williams and Child

Lady Williams and Child

Artist:
Ralph Earl (American, Worcester County, Massachusetts 1751–1801 Bolton, Connecticut)
Date:
1783
Culture:
American
Medium:
Oil on canvas
Dimensions:
50 1/4 x 39 3/4 in. (127.3 x 101 cm)
Classification:
Paintings
Credit Line:
Rogers Fund, 1906

By 1783 Earl was a member of the entourage of American artists in the London studio of Benjamin West, where he absorbed the lessons of the British portrait tradition. He persisted, however, in painting forceful characterizations of his subjects and capturing the materiality of objects; both proclivities reveal the continuing influence of John Singleton Copley’s colonial portraits. Here, Earl conveyed maternal affection along with precise details of costume and furnishings in illusionistic passages such as the reflection of a leg of the inkstand on the tabletop.

Provenance

with Ehrich Galleries, New York, by 1906

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