Portrait of a Gentleman
1821
Medium
Painting-Miniature
Classification
Painting-Miniature
Department
Smithsonian Collection
Museum
Smithsonian American Art Museum
Credit
Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase through the Catherine Walden Myer Fund
Accession Number
1954.6.2
Tags
About this artwork
The inscription on this miniature states it was made November 20, 1821, and was in the âCollection of Edward A. Brown, Reading, Mass., descendant of the artist.â It is probably a portrait of a member of the Appleton-Brown family, to whom Sarah Goodridge was related by marriage.
About the Artist
Sarah Goodridge · 1788–1853
Sarah Goodridge (1788–1853) was a pioneering American miniaturist whose exquisite portrait miniatures captured the likenesses of prominent figures during the early republic. Born on February 5 in Templeton, Massachusetts, as the sixth of nine children to farmer Ebenezer Goodridge and Beulah Childs, she displayed artistic talent from childhood despite limited resources. Largely self-taught, she ske...