Object Details
- Artist
- John Singleton Copley, born Boston, MA 1738-died 1815 London, England
- Sitter
- Elizabeth Oliver Watson
- Mrs. George Watson
- Gallery Label
- 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 afford to commission a portrait from Boston's foremost painter. Mrs. Watson showed herself to colonial society as a fashionable English matron, but her direct gaze suggests the grit and character of a new American society that would emerge within ten years.
- Exhibition Label, Smithsonian American Art Museum, 2006
- Credit Line
- Smithsonian American Art Museum, Partial gift of Henderson Inches, Jr., in honor of his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Inches, and museum purchase made possible in part by Mr. and Mrs. R. Crosby Kemper through the Crosby Kemper Foundation; the American Art Forum; and the Luisita L. and Franz H. Denghausen Endowment
- 1765
- Object number
- 1991.189
- Restrictions & Rights
- CC0
- Type
- Painting
- Medium
- oil on canvas
- Dimensions
- 49 7/8 x 40 in. (126.7 x 101.6 cm)
- See more items in
- Smithsonian American Art Museum Collection
- Department
- Painting and Sculpture
- On View
- Smithsonian American Art Museum, 2nd Floor, South Wing
- Smithsonian American Art Museum
- Topic
- Dress\historic\eighteenth century dress
- Object\other\vase
- Object\flower\tulip
- Portrait female\knee length
- Portrait female\knee length
- Record ID
- saam_1991.189
- GUID (Link to Original Record)
- http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/vk73f8ecceb-5408-4ac1-a71b-dc584f24afd3
