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Portrait of a Woman with a Shawl

Erastus Salisbury Field, born Leverett, MA 1805-died Plumtrees, MA 1900

Erastus Salisbury Field painted this portrait while working as a traveling portrait painter, fulfilling commissions around the Connecticut River valley. Portrait of a Woman with a Shawl is typical of Field’s plain-style portraits, with simplified forms and few shadows. Such portraits contrast with his later dreamscapes and historical and biblical scenes, which are often rich in fantastic and humorous details.

Date

ca. 1825-1850

Type

Painting

Medium

oil on canvas

Department

SAAM

Institution

Smithsonian American Art Museum

Object number

saam_1986.65.109

Credit

Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Herbert Waide Hemphill, Jr. and museum purchase made possible by Ralph Cross Johnson