Artwork
Mrs. Paul Smith Palmer and Her Twins
Mrs. Paul Smith Palmer and Her Twins is an oil painting by the American Folk Art artist Erastus Salisbury Field. It dates from 1836 and is held in the collection of the National Gallery of Art.
About this work
Subject & Meaning
Its depiction of a mother with her children aligns with 19th‑century American portrait conventions that recorded familial bonds and social status.
The painting presents Mrs. Paul Smith Palmer alongside her infant twins, a domestic scene that functions as a family portrait emphasizing maternal presence and lineage. Its depiction of a mother with her children aligns with 19th‑century American portrait conventions that recorded familial bonds and social status. The work’s provenance notes it remained in the sitter’s family, underscoring its role as a visual record of heritage.
Executed in oil on canvas in 1835, the portrait was later acquired by the National Gallery of Art, where it is catalogued as a portrait by Erastus Salisbury Field.
Technique & Style
Executed in 1835, this portrait is an oil painting on canvas. The work measures 97.8 cm in height and 86.3 cm in width. As a formal portrait, it depicts Mrs. Paul Smith Palmer alongside her twins, adhering to the genre conventions of the period through its representational approach. The piece is classified as a painting within the collection of the National Gallery of Art.
History & Provenance
Mrs. Paul Smith Palmer and Her Twins is an 1835 oil on canvas portrait by Erastus Salisbury Field. The work remained in the Massachusetts family of the sitter, passing to Drewville Jeffery and then to his wife, a descendant of the sitter. In 1964 John Esposito sold the painting to Edgar William and Bernice Chrysler Garbisch, who later gifted it to the National Gallery of Art in 1971.
The painting measures 97.8 cm by 86.3 cm and has been part of the National Gallery of Art’s collection since that gift.
Mrs. Paul Smith Palmer and Her Twins is part of the National Gallery of Art’s collection in Washington, D.C. The painting entered the museum as a gift in 1971 from Edgar William and Bernice Chrysler Garbisch, who acquired it from John Esposito in 1964. Its provenance traces back to Massachusetts, descending through the family of the sitter to Drewville Jeffery before the 1964 sale. The work measures 97.8 cm by 86.3 cm and is catalogued as an oil on canvas portrait from 1835 by Erastus Salisbury Field. Exhibition records are not documented in the available sources.
Overview
Erastus Salisbury Field completed this oil on canvas portrait, titled "Mrs. Paul Smith Palmer and Her Twins," in 1836. The painting presents a formal depiction of a mother with her two young children, capturing a moment of domesticity and maternal connection. As a significant work by Field, it exemplifies the portraiture style prevalent during the period, focusing on the subjects' presence and character through careful composition and rendering.
Own this work as a print
Artist & collection
- Two Children
Mrs. Mayer and Daughter
Margaret Rowlands & her children
Mrs. Cephas Smith, Jr. (Mary Gove) and Child
Grace Allison McCurdy (Mrs. Hugh McCurdy) and Her Daughters, Mary Jane and Letitia Grace
Aphia Salisbury Rich and Baby Edward
The Younger Generation
Elizabeth Grant Bankson Beatty (Mrs. James Beatty) and Her Daughter Susan
Mary and Francis Wilcox
Sisters in Red
Mrs. Andrew Bedford Bankson and Son, Gunning Bedford Bankson
The Raymond Children