Portrait of Mary Hafford Peirce (Mrs. Abraham Peirce)(1779-1848)

Date1845

Artist William Matthew Prior (1806-1873)

OriginAmerica, Massachusetts, New Bedford (possibly)

MediumOil on cardboard, framed and glazed

DimensionsUnframed: 16 1/8 x 12 1/8in. (41 x 30.8cm) and Framed: 22 x 18in.

Credit LineMuseum Purchase

Object number1989.100.2

DescriptionBust-length portrait of a woman facing left and wearing a white, ruffled capt ied with a pink ribbon under her chin, eyeglasses, and a dark blue dress with a white lace collar. She poses before a plain, medium green background.
Label TextWilliam Matthew Prior was shrewd, capable, and versatile. Surviving portraits and newspaper advertisements make it clear that he adjusted his method of painting to suit customers' pocketbooks. For bargain-hunters, he worked in the so-called "flat" style represented here. Freed from the necessity of rendering painstaking modeling and shading, the artist could work quickly --- and therefore cheaply.

Prior captured three generations of a single family in the five Peirce portraits owned by the museum. In addition to this representation of Mary Hafford Peirce, these show Mary's husband, Abraham Peirce (1779-1850), the couple's son and daughter-in-law, David R. Peirce (1806-1885) and Sarah Wilbur Peirce (1808-1871), and a son of the latter couple, Walter Adams Peirce (1838-1913). A bust to half-length pose that excluded hands was the cheapest option Prior offered in full-scale portraiture.

InscribedPainted on the backboard is, "Mrs. Mary Peirce Aged 67 Years/By W. M. Prior/1845".
ProvenanceCurrier (see "Vendor") stated that he acquired this portrait and its companions (1989.100.1 and 1989.100.3 through 1989.100.5) from a descendant of the sitter: a sister of Arthur Thomas Peirce (b. 1915) of Berkley, Mass.