Mrs. Noah Smith and Her Children

Ralph Earl

1798 · Oil on canvas · The American Wing

In 1798, Ralph Earl left his home in Connecticut, traveling throughout New England in search of portrait commissions. While in Vermont, he painted the most ambitious work of his career, a large group portrait of Chloe Burrall Smith (1757–1810) with her five children. Earl, who had trained in England, adopted a simplified style to suit the tastes of his rural patrons. Wearing a fashionable, yet modest silk gown, Mrs. Smith embraces her youngest daughter in a maternal gesture. The four older children are posed before a landscape, each holding an attribute. Of particular note is son Daniel (second to the left), who holds a "Map of the World"—an emblem of the family’s education and global ambitions.

Artist

Ralph Earl

Date

1798

Medium

Oil on canvas

Culture

American

Department

The American Wing

Credit line

Gift of Edgar William and Bernice Chrysler Garbisch, 1964