Mrs. William Carmichael
1764–78
Medium
Oil on canvas
Dimensions
68 × 53.3 cm (26 3/4 × 21 in.)
Classification
painting
Department
Arts of the Americas
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
27148
Art Historical Context
John Hesselius’s *Mrs. William Carmichael* (1764–78) offers a window into colonial American society on the eve of the Revolution. Painted in oil on canvas, the portrait belongs to the Arts of the Americas collection at the Art Institute of Chicago and measures just over two feet high, a scale typical of intimate, domestically scaled likenesses meant for private homes rather than grand public display. Hesselius, one of the earliest native-born painters to work professionally in the colonies, specialized in portraits of Maryland and Virginia gentry. Working in a refined yet direct manner influe...