Artwork
Possibly Mrs. William Sheldon
Possibly Mrs. William Sheldon is an oil painting by the American Folk Art artist Asahel Powers. It dates from 1831 and is held in the collection of the National Gallery of Art.
- Inscription
- Inscribed:on reverse (no longer visible, photograph in object file [1953.5.51] in NGA curatorial records): Mrs. J. B Sheldon / Unionville, O
About this work
Subject & Meaning
The inscription itself is now attributed to a hand other than the artist, Asahel Powers, casting doubt on the specific identity of the woman portrayed.
The work depicts a female sitter traditionally identified as Mrs. J. B. Sheldon of Unionville, Ohio, based on an inscription found on the reverse of the panel. Although this label suggested the subject was the wife of a local resident, later research indicates that the Sheldons were actually subsequent owners of the painting rather than the original models. The inscription itself is now attributed to a hand other than the artist, Asahel Powers, casting doubt on the specific identity of the woman portrayed.
Consequently, the painting is currently titled "Possibly Mrs. William Sheldon," reflecting the uncertainty surrounding the sitter's true name and status. The portrait serves as a record of a female figure from early nineteenth-century America, though its specific iconographic meaning is obscured by the loss of the sitter's confirmed identity.
Technique & Style
Executed in 1831, this portrait is an oil painting applied to a wood panel support. The work measures 104.1 cm in height and 77.5 cm in width. As a formal likeness attributed to Asahel Powers, the piece utilizes traditional oil media on a rigid wooden ground, a common approach for portraiture of this period. The physical construction involves paint layers built upon the prepared panel surface.
History & Provenance
The work was created in 1831 as an oil painting on wood panel by Asahel Powers. It was originally owned by Mrs. Jerome Bonapart Sheldon, née Caroline Grover, in Unionville, Ohio, and later passed through Downtown Gallery in New York before being sold in 1948 to Edgar William and Bernice Chrysler Garbisch, who gifted it to the National Gallery of Art in 1953.
The inscription on the reverse, once thought to identify the subjects as Mr. and Mrs. J. B. Sheldon, was later determined by handwriting analysis to be in a different hand, indicating that the Sheldons were subsequent owners rather than the original sitters, and the true identities of the sitters remain uncertain.
Possibly Mrs. William Sheldon is held in the collection of the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., where it entered in 1953 as a gift from Edgar William and Bernice Chrysler Garbisch. The Garbisches had acquired it in 1948 from the Downtown Gallery in New York, which had purchased the painting in Clyde, New York. Its earlier ownership traces to Mrs. Jerome Bonapart Sheldon (née Caroline Grover), of Unionville, Ohio.
The work is catalogued in Wikidata as belonging to the National Gallery of Art, with measured dimensions of 104.1 by 77.5 (oil on wood panel). No exhibition history beyond the documented provenance transactions is recorded in the available sources.
Overview
Created circa 1831, this oil on wood portrait depicts a seated woman in a light green dress with white lace trim, a matching hat, and a handheld fan. The sitter’s brown hair, blue eyes, and composed pose convey a genteel presence typical of early nineteenth‑century American portraiture.
Context
Produced during the early Romantic era in America, the portrait reflects the period’s emphasis on individual identity and moral virtue, yet it retains the plain visual language of regional folk art. Such works served both as personal commemorations and as visual records of community members in a rapidly expanding New England.
![Mrs. Pearson [possibly Sarah Thompson Pearson]](https://artifactworldgallery.com/img/pieter-christoffel-wonder--mrs-pearson-possibly-sarah-thompson-pearson--0006ffde77661f8c-w320.webp)
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Artist & collection
Artist
Asahel Lynde Powers (February 28, 1813 – 1843) was an American painter active in New England.
