(From Sketchbook)
1810–20
Medium
Ink, wash, on paper
Dimensions
9 x 11 1/2 in. (22.9 x 29.2 cm)
Classification
Drawing
Culture
American
Department
The American Wing
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Rogers Fund, 1953
Accession Number
53.182.50 recto
Tags
Art Historical Context
This delicate ink and wash sketch on paper, hailing from Thomas Sully's sketchbookca. 1810–20), offers a glimpse into the preparatory world of one of America's foremost portrait painters. Sully, a Philadelphia-based artist of British descent, was renowned for his elegant, portraits that blended Neoclassical precision with Romantic expressiveness, drawing inspiration from masters like Sir Joshua Reynolds. Active during a transformative era in American art—post-Revolution, amid growing national identity—this modest 9 x 11½-inch sheet likely captures a woman's likeness as a study for a larger oil...
About the Artist
Thomas Sully · 1783–1872
Thomas Sully, born on June 19, 1783, in Horncastle, Lincolnshire, England, to actor parents Matthew Sully and Sarah Chester, emigrated with his family to Charleston, South Carolina, in 1792. Raised in a theatrical environment, young Thomas debuted as a tumbler at age 11 before discovering his artistic talent. He studied miniature painting with his brother Lawrence Sully, brother-in-law Jean Belzon...