(From Sketchbook)

Art Historical Context

This delicate sketch from Thomas Sully sketchbook, created between 1810 and 1820, captures intimate scenes of women and dogs in and wash on paper (9 x 11½ in.). Sully, a leading American portrait painter of the early 19th century, renowned for his elegant, fluid style influenced by British masters like Sir Joshua Reynolds. Working primarily in Philadelphia, he produced luminous portraits of American elites, but his sketchbooks reveal the preparatory artistry behind those grand canvases—quick studies that honed composition, gesture, and expression. Ink and wash, a technique using diluted ink for subtle tonal washes, allowed Sully to experiment with light and shadow on a modest scale. These sketches often served as vital references for his finished oils, blending neoclassical poise with emerging Romantic tenderness. Featuring women and dogs, this piece evokes domestic warmth, a common motif in Sully's work that humanized his subjects amid America's growing cultural identity. Housed in The Metropolitan Museum of Art's American Wing (Rogers Fund, 1953), it offers a glimpse into the artist's creative process during a formative era for U.S. art, when portraiture bridged European traditions and national pride. A charming window into everyday elegance!

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...