Lucretia Coffin Mott
Medium
Painting
Classification
Painting
Department
Smithsonian Collection
Museum
Smithsonian American Art Museum
Credit
National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution; gift of Mrs. Alan Valentine
Accession Number
NPG.74.72
Tags
About this artwork
Born Nantucket, Massachusetts
Art Historical Context
**Lucretia Coffin Mott (1842) by Joseph Kyle1815–1863) is a compelling portrait that captures the quiet strength of one of America's early social reformers. Painted when Mott was in her late 40s, the work depicts her in traditional Quaker attire—a bonnet and shawl—ev her Nantucket roots and modest, principled life. Housed in the Smithsonian American Museum as part of the National Portrait's collection (gift of Mrs. Alan Valentine this oil painting exemplifies 19th-century portraiture's focus on character and dignity. Born in Nantucket, Massachusetts, Lucretia Coffin Mott was a trailblazing Qu...