Mrs. Mayer and Daughter

Ammi Phillips

1835–40 · Oil on canvas · The American Wing

Phillips pursued a long and successful career over fifty years, taking to the road as an itinerant artist painting portraits of clusters of friends, relatives, and neighbors in New York State and New England. His stock in trade was the plain likeness, devoid of shadows or modeling. Although he depended on repetitious formulas to work efficiently as he traveled the countryside, he was nevertheless able to individualize his sitters imaginatively. In "Mrs. Mayer and Daughter," Phillips’s masterful design abilities are evident in the cleanly contained forms of the mother and child, enriched by the use of brilliant, saturated color and careful detail.

Artist

Ammi Phillips

Date

1835–40

Medium

Oil on canvas

Culture

American

Department

The American Wing

Credit line

Gift of Edgar William and Bernice Chrysler Garbisch, 1962