Collections record Beta

Oil Painting - Maria Hallett Tallmadge (Mrs. Benjamin Tallmadge)

1974-09-2

Oil on canvas portrait of Mrs. Benjamin Tallmadge, (Maria Hallett) (d.1838) by Ezra Ames, (1768-1836), 1/2 length image of older woman, seated in a red upholstered chair, head slightly left, wearing a cap with lace and green/blue ribbon trim, light brown curly hair, hazel eyes, wearing a black silk dress with black lace trim, white lace ruffled collar.

Benjamin Tallmadge, (1754-1835) was born in Brookhaven, L.I., graduated from Yale in 1773. He served in the Revolution under General G. Washington as a Secret Service agent. Tallmadge is noted for discovering the conspiracy between Major Andre and Benedict Arnold. Tallmadge was in charge of Andre's imprisonment before his execution, and they became close friends. During the Revolution, Tallmadge visited Litchfield, the munitions depot, and decided to settle here after the War. In 1782, he purchased the Thomas Sheldon house on North Street. In 1784, he married, Mary Floyd, (1763-1805), they had seven children. He was a merchant in Litchfield, owner of B. Tallmadge & Co. and its branches in New York and Winsted, CT. He was a partner with Oliver Wolcott and Julius Deming in the Litchfield China Trading Co., a venture which imported goods from the Orient, the group owned a ship, the Trident, which sailed in and out of New York. He served in the CT House of Representatives from 1801-1817, and as the President of the Phoenix Bank Branch in Litchfield, as a the town's first Postmaster. Mary Floyd died in 1805, and in 1808, Tallmadge married for a second time to Maria Hallett, (d. 1838) of New York City.

• Ames, Ezra, 1768-1836

ca. 1825

Painting: 29 1/2" x 22 3/4"; Frame: 39 1/2" x 33"

• canvas
• oil