Provenance
The sitter's daughter, Emily Hopkinson Scovel [1839-1883]; her daughter, Florence Scovel Shinn [b. 1871], New York; purchased 11 April 1918 by Thomas B. Clarke [1848-1931], New York;[1] his estate; sold as part of the Clarke collection 29 January 1936, through (M. Knoedler & Co., New York), to The A.W. Mellon Educational and Charitable Trust, Pittsburgh; gift 1942 to NGA.
[1] Acquisition date recorded for the pendant painting by Sully, _Francis Hopkinson_ (NGA 1942.8.33), and probably also the acquisition date for this painting. This information is according to a 1928 Clarke exhibition catalogue annotated with information from files of M. Knoedler & Co., NY (copy in NGA curatorial records and in NGA library).
Accession Number
1942.8.32
Medium
oil on canvas
Dimensions
overall: 51 x 44.3 cm (20 1/16 x 17 7/16 in.) | framed: 74.9 x 67.3 x 10.2 cm (29 1/2 x 26 1/2 x 4 in.)
Classification
Painting
Credit Line
Andrew W. Mellon Collection
Tags
Painting Neoclassical & Romantic (1751–1850) Oil Painting Canvas American Color: Orange
Background & Context
Background Story
Thomas Sully (1783-1872) was an American portrait painter who brought the fluid, graceful style of British portraiture to the United States, becoming one of the most fashionable portraitists in Philadelphia and the young republic. Ann Biddle Hopkinson from 1834 is a portrait of Mrs. Francis Hopkinson, a member of the prominent Biddle and Hopkinson families of Philadelphia, depicting her with the graceful pose and fluid brushwork that distinguish Sully's best portraiture. Sully's style was influenced by his study of British portrait painting, particularly the work of Thomas Lawrence, whose fluid brushwork and elegant compositions Sully adapted to American subjects.
Cultural Impact
Sully's portraits of Philadelphia society are important documents in the history of American portraiture because they show how British portrait conventions were adapted to American subjects. Ann Biddle Hopkinson demonstrates the influence of Thomas Lawrence on Sully's style: the graceful pose, the fluid brushwork, and the elegant composition are all Lawrence-derived, but the sitter's American identity gives the portrait a character that distinguishes it from its British models.
Why It Matters
Ann Biddle Hopkinson is Sully's British elegance Americanized: the graceful pose and fluid brushwork of Thomas Lawrence adapted to a Philadelphia socialite. The 1834 portrait demonstrates how British portrait conventions were transformed in American hands—the same elegance, but with an American sitter whose identity gives the portrait a character distinct from its British models.
