Mrs. Henry Hill (Anna Barrett)
c. 1765–70
Medium
Pastel on paper mounted on linen
Dimensions
58.4 × 43.2 cm (23 × 17 in.)
Classification
painting
Department
Arts of the Americas
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
11003
Rights
Public Domain
About this artwork
In 2006 the Art Institute of Chicago was lucky enough to acquire John Singleton Copley's pastel Henry Hill (2006.83), the companion to Mrs. Henry Hill (Anna Barrett) which has been in the collection since 1959. Both pastels retain their original Rococo-style frames. They may have been carved by the Boston cratsman John Welch, who created many of Copley's Rococo frames, the type the artist used most frequently for his American portraits. The frame on Mrs. Henry Hill was gilded, as this was genera...
About the Artist
John Singleton Copley · 1738–1815
John Singleton Copley (1738–1815) was the greatest American painter of the colonial era and one of the finest portraitists in the English-speaking world. Born in Boston, Massachusetts, he was largely self-taught, learning from mezzotint reproductions of European paintings and from his stepfather Peter Pelham, an engraver. By his early twenties, Copley had established himself as Boston's leading po...