Still-life
Oil on canvas, 10 x 14 inches
Signed and at lower right: “S.P. 1868”; signed and dated on reverse: “S. Peale/ 1868”
About the Artist:
Sarah Miriam Peale was the youngest daughter of James Peale (1749-1831) from whom she learned to paint. In 1824 both she and her sister Anna were elected to membership in the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in Philadelphia. The following year Sarah moved to Baltimore, where she became a successful portraitist. During the early 1840s she painted a number of noted American statesmen in Washington, D.C. In 1846 she relocated to St. Louis and did not return to Philadelphia until 1877. Although Sarah was primarily a portraitist, she is also noted for her table top still lifes that reflect the influence of her father. Reference: Wilbur Harvey Hunter, Miss Sarah Miriam Peale, 1800–1885: Portraits and Still Life [exh. cat., The Peale Museum] (Baltimore, 1967).
The house located at 19 Maryland Avenue was begun in 1774 by planter Matthias Hammond. Ardently favoring the cause for freedom, Hammond was elected to the Maryland government in 1773. He began working with architect William Buckland on plans for an elegant townhouse in Annapolis. The work was undertaken by crews of indentured artisans and enslaved men under Buckland’s direction.
Hammond never lived at the house, remaining at his plantation in Gambrills, Maryland. In the early 19th century, the mansion was home to the Pinkney and then the Loockerman families. For the first half of the 19th century, both families held enslaved men, women, and children who performed domestic work – cooking, cleaning, childcare, etc.—at the luxurious home. Loockerman descendants lived at the Hammond-Harwood House until the last surviving member died in 1924.
Through the Civil War and World War I, the house remained an enduring fixture in Maryland’s capital city. After the death of Hester Ann Harwood in the 1924, the building’s future was uncertain. St. John’s College purchased the site in 1926 and instituted a decorative arts program, the first of its kind in the country. The economic woes of the 1930s, however, forced the College to search for new owners. Finally, in 1940, the Hammond-Harwood House was purchased by the newly formed Hammond-Harwood House Association. The museum collection of fine and decorative art, the exemplary architecture, and social history of the inhabitants enslaved and free are presented through tours and programs open to the public.
Click Here To Learn More: Hammond-Harwood House