Charlotte Elderkin Gray (Mrs. Samuel Gray)
PainterAttributed to
Joseph Steward
(American, 1753 - 1822)
Dateabout 1790
MediumPainting; oil on canvas in frame
DimensionsPrimary Dimensions (height x width): 20 × 18in. (50.8 × 45.7cm)
ClassificationsPainting
Credit LineGift of Mrs. Mary Gray Morris
Object number1960.94.1
DescriptionBust-length portrait painting of Charlotte Elderkin Gray (Mrs. Samuel Gray), attributed to Joseph Steward. Shown in three-quarter profile. Gray is wearing a red dress or bodice with white lace at the neckline. Her dark hair is worn partially gathered on top of her head, and partially down in long ringlets. Her hair is adorned with a string of small pearls or other white beads.
NotesConstituent note: Exhibit label in object file: "This portrait is thought to be one of [Joseph] Steward's earliest portraits done before he left the Windham area for Hartford in 1796. Charlotte Elderkin was married to Samuel Gray in 1788; both were from prominent Windham families. Steward may have seen the portrait of Amelia Dyer Trumbull Wyllys (shown to the right) and then portrayed Mrs. Gray in the same type of classical dress, curled hair and swagged beads that Trumbull used in the Wyllys portrait in 1777. The influence of Ralph Earl on Steward's portraits in Hartford has been well researched, but the influences of other artists on his pre-Hartford style has not been fully developed."Status
Not on view
Hannah Scoville Yale
about 1860
probably 1862
