18th century blog

Mrs. Alexander Hamilton, 1787.

I discovered American portrait painter Ralph Earl through the great blog 18th century American women which I’ve featured here earlier. I love his slightly naive paintings with great attention to costume and detail, and depicting one of my favourite fashion periods, the late 1780s and early 1790s.

Ralph Earl on Wikipedia.

A short Ralph Earl article at Bolton Community News.

An extensive biography of Ralph Earl at Worcester Art Museum.

Ralph Earl: The Face of the Young Republic on Amazon.

Jerusha Benedict (Ives), probably 1780s.

Marianne Drake, 1783.

1784. On one site this painting was listed as being by George Romney, so I’m not sure which is right. It does seem very similar to some of Ralph Earl’s other paintings though, with the outfit and the setting and the landscape in the background.

Ann Whiteside Earl, 1784.

Martha Spear, Mrs. John Johnston, 1785.

Esther Boardman, 1789.

Mariann Wolcott Litchfield, 1789.

Clarissa Seymour (later Mrs. Truman Marsh), 1789.

Mary Floyd Tallmadge, Mrs. Benjamin Tallmadge, with son Henry Floyd and daughter Maria Jones, 1790.

Abigail Starr, Mrs. William Taylor, and Son Daniel, 1790.

Mrs. William Moseley and Her Son Charles, 1791.

Hulda Bradley, 1794.

Lucy Bradley, 1794.

Mrs. Ralph Earl, 1794.

Mary Ann Whiting, Mrs. Elijah Boardman, and Son William, 1796.

Apphia Ruggles, Mrs. Jared Lane, 1796.

Elizabeth Eliot, Mrs Gershom Burr, 1798 ( the fashion depicted doesn’t look like 1798, maybe it’s a copy of an earlier painting).