Portrait of Elizabeth Gaines Miller 2018-223

Images(2)

Portrait of Elizabeth Gaines Miller (Mrs. William Miller) (1788-1864)

Date1818 or 1819

Attributed to Asa Park (1790-1827)

OriginAmerica, Kentucky, Danville

MediumOil on canvas

DimensionsFramed: 34" H x 27 1/2" W; unframed (approx): 27" H x 21 1/2" W

Credit LineMuseum Purchase

Object number2018-223,A&B

DescriptionPortrait of a woman in a reddish brown dress against a brown background. Her neckline is trimmed with a lace collar brought tighter with a bow in the front. She also wears what appears to be an amber necklace. Her hair is pulled back into a high bun and her bangs are parted in the center and curled into two large curls on either side of her face.
Label TextThe portraits of William and wife Elizabeth Gaines Miller were rendered by Massachusett's-born Asa Park, who left his native New England for Lexington, Kentucky in 1816. During his eleven-year tenure in the city, before his premature death at the age of thirty-seven, the artist emerged as a talented, yet unprolific painter in central Kentucky. He advertised himself as being "under the patronage of the celebrated [Gilbert] Stuart and [John Ritto] Penniman." He worked in several locations in the region with a studio in Danville, Kentucky, during the years 1818 and 1819.

It is most likely here where he painted the companion works of the General William H. and Elizabeth Gaines Miller. Although William served as a commander with the Virginia militia, he spent the majority of his lifetime--nearly 30 years--in Danville, Kentucky, "engaged in dealing in hogs across the mountains into the Virginia Valley." In 1837, he and his wife and several children moved to Saline County, Missouri, where he worked locally as a farmer and stock-raiser.

ProvenanceSee object file for correspondence that outlines history of descent. From the subjects to their daughter, Jane Cunningham Miller (Mrs. Robert Todd Stuart) (1816-1852); to their daughter Margaret Eliza Stuart (Mrs. James S. Price); to their daughter Mary Mallory Price (Mrs. Walter Bigelow Trask); to their daughter Harriet Louise Bigelow Trask Harris (Mrs. John Charles Harris); to their daughter Mary Diane Harris (Mrs. Richard Lehman); to their children, presumed consignors to Skinner; purchased at July 19, 2018 Country Americana auction, Skinner.