Mrs. Katherine Matthews

Thomas Sully

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

According to the artist’s personal registers, this portrait was painted between December 1, 1812 and January 31, 1813, and cost the sitter seventy dollars. It reveals the influence of Sully's English trip of 1809–10, during which time he studied with Benjamin West and found his stylistic model in the work of the English portraitist Sir Thomas Lawrence. In fact, this painting is a half-length adaptation of Lawrence's "Elizabeth Farren, Countess of Derby" (also in the Museum's collection). The sitter’s dynamic gesture, turn of the head, and fashionable fur wrap—as well as Sully’s bravura brushwork—are all borrowed from Lawrence. However, the American de-emphasizes the sensuality of the original work, stressing instead an air of charm and social standing suitable for a Philadelphia lady.

The American Wing

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The American Wing's ever-evolving collection comprises some 20,000 works of art by African American, Euro American, Latin American, and Native American men and women. Ranging from the colonial to early-modern periods, the holdings include painting, sculpture, works on paper, and decorative arts—including furniture, textiles, ceramics, glass, silver, metalwork, jewelry, basketry, quill and bead embroidery—as well as historical interiors and architectural fragments.

Metropolitan Museum of Art