Mrs. Klapp (Anna Milnor)
1814
Medium
Oil on canvas
Dimensions
92.1 × 71.5 cm (36 1/4 × 28 1/8 in.)
Classification
painting
Department
Arts of the Americas
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
72375
Art Historical Context
Thomas Sully's *Mrs. Klapp (Anna Milnor)*, painted in 1814, is a captivating oil-on-canvas portrait measuring 92.1 × 71.5 cm, now housed in the Art Institute of Chicago's Arts of the Americas collection. Sully, a prominent Anglo-American painter born in England but active in Philadelphia, specialized in elegant likenesses of the early Republic's elite. This work exemplifies his mastery of portraiture during a time when American artists were drawing inspiration from British masters like Sir Joshua Reynolds, blending neoclassical poise with emerging Romantic warmth. Rendered in the rich, lumino...
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...