Peale Family Paintings from the Estate of J. Ashley and Pamela Patterson Roach

American, 1827-1902
Portrait of Philis, 1849
Oil on paper laid to canvas
13 1/4 x 12 3/4 inches

Provenance:
The artist
Gifted from artist to niece Caroline Elise Peale (1872-1943)
Sister Rebecca Burd Peale Patterson (1881-1952)
Granddaughter Pamela Shippen Patterson (Roach) (1943-2013)
Trust of Pamela Patterson Roach, 2013
Trust of Joseph Ashley Roach, 2024-present

Literature:
The Selected Papers of Charles Willson Peale and His Family, edited by Lilian B. Miller, Yale University Press, no. 214.

Exhibited:
Baltimore, MD, The Peale Museum, Seven Painting Peales From Charles Willson to Mary Jane, Oct. 3 to Nov. 28, 1971. Loan extended through 1974.

Notes:
Family records show Philis was a slave of the Patterson family, who provided a farm near Pottsville, PA to Rubens’ family when the Peale’s New York Museum failed after the panic of 1837. Phillis helped Eliza Patterson in New York and continued to help the young family at the farm. Mary Jane Peale’s diaries begin in 1847, where she recorded her hope to become a professional artist and hint at the close relationship she had with Phillis by that time. Phillis lived the rest of her life at the farm with Rubens, Eliza, and Mary J. Peale. It is unclear when she was emancipated, but it is known that she chose to remain with the family until her death in 1854. The family honored Phillis with her burial in a whole lot and marked grave at the United Presbyterian Cemetery, Pottsville, PA. Mary Jane Peale’s diaries record Phillis’ Christian baptism in 1848.

This is a very early painting by Mary Jane Peale, done before she dedicated herself to painting professionally on her 25th birthday in 1852. Mary's diaries, now in the collection of the American Philosophical Society, record her painting Phillis' portrait. Two different accounts by Mary Jane Peale of the painting describe it as "Phillis my first picture from life" and "A small portrait of Phillis..., aged about eighty, very easily done & pronounced excellent, Fall 1849 at the farm."

The portrait was originally painted on mattress ticking. Fragments of the ticking remain from when it was relined in 1955, and the original ticking is included in the lot

.

We would like to thank Elise Peale Patterson Gelpi for her kind assistance in cataloguing this lot.

Framed 16 3/4 x 16 1/2 inches