Reading Indoors - Women & Books in 18th-Century America

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1730 John Smibert (American colonial era artist, 1688-1751) Sarah Middlecroft (Mrs Louis Boucher)

Another rainy day here in Maryland. Been spending the last few wet, wet days leafing through my books. Not reading exactly, but playing with the books & thinking about women & books in early America. Here are a few portraits of those gentlewomen with books. I wonder if only women who could read were portrayed with books.

1731 John Smibert (American colonial era artist, 1688-1751) Margaret Mitchell 1664-1736 Mrs Stephen Sewall

1737 Gansevoort Limner Possibly Pieter Vanderlyn (Colonial era American artist, 1687-1778) Young Lady With a Fan

1747 John Greenwood (Amerian colonial era artist, 1727-1792) The Greenwood-Lee Family

1748 Robert Feke (American colonial era artist, 1707-1751) Grizzell Eastwick (Mrs. Charles Apthorp)

1750 Joseph Badger (American colonial era artist, 1708-1765) Faith Savage Waldo

1750 Joseph Badger (American colonial era artist, 1708-1765) Mrs. William Foye Elizabeth Campbell

1752 John Wollaston (American colonial era artist, 1733-1767) Mrs Philip Livingston

1753 Joseph Blackburn (fl in the colonies 1754-1763 Mary Lea (Mrs. John Harvey)

1757 John Singleton Copley (American colonial era artist, 1738-1815) Elizabeth Allen (Mrs William Stevens)

1758 John Singleton Copley (American colonial era artist, 1738-1815) Mary Alleyne Mrs James Otis

1758 Joseph Blackburn (American colonial era artist, fl 1753-1763) Mrs. Jonathan Simpson (Margaret Lechmere)

1764 John Singleton Copley (American colonial era artist, 1738-1815) Mrs. Samuel Hill, nee Miriam Kilby

1764 John Singleton Copley (American colonial era artist, 1738-1815) Mrs Anna Dummer Powell

1765 Jeremiah Theus (American colonial era artist, 1716-1774) Mary Cuthbert Mrs James Cuthbert

1765-67 John Wollaston (American colonial era artist, 1733-1767) Rebecca Bee Holmes Mrs Isaac Holmes

1766 John Singleton Copley (American colonial era artist, 1738-1815) Mrs. Nathaniel Ellery Ann Sargent

1770 Cosmo Alexander (American colonial era artist, 1724-1772) Margaret Stiles Manning

1770 Cosmo Alexander (American colonial era artist, 1724-1772) Martha Lathrop (Mrs. Ebenezer Devotion)

1770 John Singleton Copley (American colonial era artist, 1738-1815) Mrs James Russell (Katherine Graves)

1770 John Singleton Copley (American colonial era artist, 1738-1815) Relief Dowse (Mrs Michael Gill)

1770-75 Henry Benbridge (American colonial era artist, 1743-1812) Mrs Mary Cuthbert 1716-1794 Mary Hazzard wife of Dr James Cuthbert

1772 Cosmo Alexander (American colonial era artist, 1724-1772) Mary Jemima Balfour (Mrs James Balfour)

1773 Henry Benbridge (American colonial era artist, 1743-1812) Mrs Charles Coteworth Pinckney (Sarah Middleton)

1775 Charles Willson Peale (American artist, 1741-1827) Mrs James Smith with her grandson

1776 Charles Willson Peale (American artist, 1741-1827) Mrs James Latimer

1777-80 Charles Willson Peale (American artist, 1741-1827) Mrs Samuel Mifflin & granddau Rebecca Mifflin Francis

1779 Ralph Earl (American artist, 1751-1801) Mary Ann Carpenter Mrs Thompson Foster

1783 Charles Willson Peale (American artist, 1741-1827) The Artist's Mother, Mrs. Charles Peale, and Her Grandchildren

1784 Ralph Earl (American artist, 1751-1801) Anne Whiteside Earl the artist's wife

1785-90 Beardsley Limner possibly Sarah Bushnell Perkins (American artist, 1771-1831) Mrs Hezekiah Beardsley

1787 Charles Willson Peale (American artist, 1741-1827) Mary Chew (Mrs Thomas Elliott Chrysler)

1788 Charles Willson Peale (American artist, 1741-1827) Mrs Robert Gilmore with Jane and Elizabeth

1789 Christian Gullager (American artist, 1759-1826) Elizabeth Sewall Mrs Samuel Salisbury

1789 Christian Gullager (American artist, 1759-1826) Martha Saunders (Mrs Nicholas Salisbury)

1789 Christian Gullager (American artist, 1759-1826) Rebecca Salisbury Waldo (Mrs Daniel Waldo)

1790 Denison Limner probably Joseph Steward (American artist, 1753-1822) Elizabeth Denison

1790 Denison Limner probably Joseph Steward (American artist, 1753-1822) Mrs Elizabeth Noyes

1790s John Brewster (American artist, 1766-1854) Dr and Mrs Brewster

1791 Charles Willson Peale (American artist, 1741-1827) Mrs Francis Baily

1791 John Mackay or M'Kay (American artist, 1767-1807) Hannah Ackley Bush

1791 Ralph Earl (American artist, 1751-1801) Mrs John Watson

1792 Ralph Earl (American artist, 1751-1801) Mrs Joseph Wright

1794 James Earl (American artist, 1761-1796) Mrs. John Rogers (Elizabeth Rodman)

1794-96 James Earl (American artist, 1761-1796) Rebecca Pritchard and her daughter Eliza

1795 Joseph Steward (American artist, 1753-1822) Pamela Sedgwick 1753-1807

1796 Jonathan Budington 1766-1854 George Eliot and Family

1796 Ralph Earl (American artist, 1751-1801) Mrs Sherman Boardman (Sarah Bostwick)

1797 Christian Gullager (American artist, 1759-1826) Dorothy Lynde (Mrs Elijah Dix)

1797 Gilbert Stuart (American painter, 1755-1828) Ann Willing Bingham

1797 Gilbert Stuart (American painter, 1755-1828) Mary Willing Clymer

1799 Charles Peale Polk (American artist, 1767-1822) Margaret Baker Briscoe (Mrs. Gerard Briscoe)

1799 Charles Peale Polk (American artist, 1767-1822) Eleanor Conway Hite & James Madison Hite

1799 Joshua Johnson (American artist, 1763-1826) Mrs John Moale (Ellen North) & Ellin

1800 Charles Peale Polk (American artist, 1767-1822) Martha Selden Jones (Mrs. Churchill Jones) of Chatham, near Fredericksburg
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