Matilda Davis Williams
Christian Gullager
ca. 1791-1792
Medium
Painting
Classification
Painting
Department
Smithsonian Collection
Museum
Smithsonian American Art Museum
Credit
Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase
Accession Number
1977.101.2
Tags
jewelrywaist length
About this artwork
Matilda Davis was the daughter of Caleb Davis, an important Boston merchant and shipowner and Speaker in the Massachusetts House of Representatives. She married Jeremiah Williams in 1787, just three years before she died at the age of twenty-two, and in this image she wears a miniature portrait of her husband. Christian Gullager created this portrait posthumously, probably from an existing painting of the young woman. He played with different textures in the detailed image, from the delicate lac...