William Wilsonca. 1826
William Wilson (1762-1844) was born in Scotland and, after moving to New York, married Agnes Ann Kerr of Edenton, North Carolina, in 1786. More about this work
About this work
William Wilson (1762-1844) was born in Scotland and, after moving to New York, married Agnes Ann Kerr of Edenton, North Carolina, in 1786. Their grandchildren’s marriages into the Lamb and Repiton families of North Carolina are commemorated in four other miniatures in this collection, of William Boswell Lamb and his wife, Margaret Kerr Lamb (see 1980.126.4 and 1980.126.5), and Joseph Lavoir Repiton and his wife, Marguerite Tangier Repiton (see 1980.126.2 and 1980.126.3).
Text from the Smithsonian American Art Museum.
How it was made
- Watercolour on ivory
- Thin sheets of ivory gave watercolour a luminous, skin-like glow, which made them the favourite support for portrait miniatures from the early 1700s.
- Watercolour
- Pigment in gum arabic, thinned with water and laid in transparent washes. Nothing white is painted: the light is the paper showing through.
George Catlin
born Wilkes-Barre, PA 1796-died Jersey City, NJ 1872
Catlin gave up the law to paint, first as a portraitist in Philadelphia, and from 1830 made a series of journeys west from St Louis to record the peoples of the Plains. On a steamboat trip up the Missouri in 1832 he painted hundreds of portraits and scenes of daily life and landscape. He toured his “Indian Gallery” through the eastern cities and Europe, and his illustrated books made these images widely known.
Written by Ochre Editions.
Rights and the museum’s record
Public domain. The Smithsonian American Art Museum has dedicated this image to the public domain under CC0, so anyone may copy, adapt and use it, for any purpose, without asking. Our prints and files are reproductions made from the museum’s image; the museum doesn’t endorse them.
- Object number
- 1980.126.1
- Credit
- Courtesy of the Smithsonian American Art Museum
- Type
- Painting-Miniature
- Department
- Painting and Sculpture
- Licence
- CC0 1.0 Universal
- Museum record
- See it on the museum’s site
