Portrait of a Woman (1820): Art, History and Details

Portrait of a Woman (1820) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is Anna Claypoole Peale (American, 1791–1878).

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

As a child, Anna Claypoole Peale observed her father James Peale painting miniature portraits and practiced alongside him. She eventually rivaled his success and became one of the leading portrait miniaturists in American during the 1800s. The sitter’s identity is unknown, but her likeness has been skillfully rendered to emphasize her rosy cheeks, pale skin, and red lips. This object was likely gifted as a sentimental memento to a loved one.

Object facts

• Title: Portrait of a Woman
• Date: 1820
• Creator attribution: Anna Claypoole Peale (American, 1791–1878)
• Culture: United States
• Type: Portrait Miniature
• Technique: watercolor on ivory on a gilt metal locket with red leather case
• Dimensions: Framed: 7.1 x 6 cm (2 13/16 x 2 3/8 in.)
• Collection: American - Painting
• Department: American Painting and Sculpture
• Accession number: 2008.229

A detail from the museum

A compartment on the back of this painting may have originally contained a lock of the sitter’s hair.

Collection credit

Bequest of Muriel Butkin

Further reading listed by the museum

• Korkow, Cory. "Small Wonders." Cleveland Art: Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine 51, no. 1 (January/February 2011): 8-9.

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.