Ann Beall
This miniature depicts Ann Orme Beall (1752-1827), of Upper Marlborough, Maryland who married Thomas Beall of George in 1773. The Bealls’ daughter Eliza Ridgely Beall married George Corbin Washington, a grandnephew of George Washington, in 1807. This portrait is by acclaimed miniaturist Robert Field who also painted miniatures of George and Martha Washington in 1801. The portraits of these two women share somber attire with white accoutrements and brown backgrounds. Field has painted a similarly complex expression on both faces—a dignified serenity, with a hint of warmth, as though a smile might shortly appear. Though not as elegant as the portrait of her husband (H-4843), Mrs. Beall’s image is very finely executed, and signed and dated RF, 1801 in a characteristic Field signature of the period.
Encased in black painted wood (or papier-mache?) frame with gold, oval-shaped inset; hanging hardware attached at top center with a rose-and-thistle ornament.
SignedAt left,
RF
1801
Published ReferencesJulie Aronson and Marjorie E. Wieseman, A Perfect Likeness: European and American Portrait Miniatures From The Cincinatti Art Museum (New Haven: Yale, 2006), 175. (General)
Harry B. Wehle, American Miniatures 1730-1850 (Garden City, NJ: Garden City Publishing Company, Inc., 1937), 83-84. (General)
Harry Piers, Robert Field: Portrait Painter in Oils, Miniature and Water-Colours and Engraver (New York: Frederic Fairchild Sherman, 1927), 100; 104-106. (General )