Collections record Beta

Oil Painting - Henry, Julia, and Elizabeth Canfield

1917-04-5

Three children seated on a stone garden bench with trees and sky in the background. Henry Judson, seated on the left, has long blond hair, blue eyes and wear a dark green suit with brass buttons, a yellow vest and wide embroidered white collar over his shoulders. He has low cut shoes and white stockings. In his right hand he holds an open picture book and his left hand rests on the bouquet in his sister's lap. The two sisters have the same long blond hair and blue eyes. They are dressed alike in full dresses of India embroidered white mull and half sleeved bodices of like material over pink petticoats. They wear wide pink satin sashes around their waists tied in huge bows at the back. The arms of the dresses are also bound half way down with a thin pink ribbon. Julia, seated center, holds a bouquet of roses and violas in her lap.

Ralph Earl was born in Worcester County, Massachusetts to a family of farmers and craftsmen. A Loyalist, Earl refused to fight during the Revolutionary War, eventually fleeing to England and leaving his wife and children. In England, Earl studied in the studio of well-known American artist and expatriate Benjamin West. He returned to America after the war with a new wife and established himself as a portraitist in New York. Alcoholism and growing debt landed Earl in prison from 1786 to 1788. With the aid of New York patrons, he regained his freedom through portrait commissions and settled in Connecticut. His straightforward portraits and occasional landscapes are noted for highlighting the achievements and material wealth of his Connecticut clientele.

• Earl, Ralph, 1751-1801

ca. 1796

48" x 48" frame, 51" x 51"

• oil
• canvas