Collections record Beta

Collection Record Detail

Object Name

Oil Painting - Ruth Pierce Croswell

Object Number

1975-99-1 B

Description

Oil on board or paper portrait of Ruth Pierce Croswell. Sitter is shown from the waist up, a middle-aged woman with brown hair and wearing a dark dress with a pink bonnet and scarf with white flowers and polka dots. Set against dark background; later frame, bronze painted wood, marked "MADE IT ITALY." "Painted by H.Birdport/ Catskill/ Sept. 1822" written on frame backing.

Provenance

Until 2017, the sitters in this portrait and it's companion portrait (1975-99-1 A) were unidentified. A discovery in the archival collection identified the sitter in the companion portrait to be Dr. Thomas O'Hara Croswell; given the similarity of the two pieces, the date of their completion, and the matching provenance written on the back, this piece is assumed to be of Croswell's wife, Ruth Pierce.

Comment

Ruth Pierce (1765-1862) was born in Litchfield to John Pierce and Mary Paterson Pierce. She was older sister to Sarah Pierce, founder of the Litchfield Female Academy. She married Dr. Thomas O'Hara Croswell in 1791 and moved with him to Catskill, New York. Hugh Bridport immigrated to Philadelphia in 1816 at the encouragement of the artist Thomas Sully. He founded a drawing academy with his brother and built a successful career. Bridport was a founding member of the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia, and taught drawing there for six years.