Anne Saltonstall
Artist:
Joseph Blackburn
(British, active in the United States, ca. 1730 - 1787)
Place made:probably Boston, Massachusetts
Date: 1762
Medium: Oil on canvas
Dimensions:
30 1/2 x 24 7/8 in. (77.5 x 63.2 cm)
Credit Line: San Antonio Museum of Art, purchased with funds provided by the Ewing Halsell Foundation
Object number: 79.4
Signed: Signed and dated lower right: "J. Blackburn Pinx 1762"
Inscribed: Inscribed nn verso: "Natus Feby 29/1739/40"
Provenance: Harry S. Newman Gallery, New York; to Miss Mabel Thatcher, New Canaan, Connecticut; to estate of Miss Mabel Thatcher, intil 1978
Label Text
Anne Saltonstall was 22 years old when she posed for Joseph Blackburn, a British artist who spent a little over a decade working in the Colonies. Blackburn emphasizes her youth and vivacity through the delicate pinks that adorn his pretty sitter, from the blushes on her cheeks to the stomacher that peeps out from her elegant ivory bodice to the overwrap that falls off her left shoulder. The artist, who likely worked as a drapery painter in his native London before coming to the Colonies, was particularly skillful in rendering sumptuous clothing. Sitters like Anne Saltonstall became frothy fashion plates and helped Blackburn secure commissions on the island of Bermuda, in Portsmouth, New Hampshire; Newport, Rhode Island; Boston; and Connecticut, where he likely painted at least five of Anne’s family members. After the younger, native-born John Singleton Copley’s realism began to curry more favor with potential clients, Blackburn returned to England.
(William Keyse Rudolph, 2014)
(William Keyse Rudolph, 2014)
On view
In Collection(s)
The San Antonio Museum of Art is in the process of digitizing its permanent collection. This electronic record was created from historic documentation that does not necessarily reflect SAMA's complete or current knowledge about the object. Review and updating of such records is ongoing.
This resource has been made possible in part by the National Endowment for the Humanities: Exploring the Human Endeavor.
