Portrait of Betsy Brownell Gilbert

Maker Ammi Phillips (American, 1788 - 1865)

Collections

Jonathan and Karin Fielding Collection

ClassificationsPAINTINGS

Dateca. 1820

Mediumoil on canvas

Dimensionsframe: 34 1/2 x 28 1/4 x 3 in. (87.6 x 71.8 x 7.6 cm.) frame opening: 29 × 22 3/4 in. (73.7 × 57.8 cm.)

DescriptionPortrait of Betsy Brownell Gilbert; the sitter is wearing a white dress and a black necklace; one arm is leaning on a draped with a red shawl with colorful trim. Included with the portrait is the dress, now dyed black, and the hair comb.

Credit LineJonathan and Karin Fielding Collection

Label TextFrom 1809 to the 1860s, Ammi Phillips painted
portraits of well-to-do farmers, merchants,
clergy, and officials in Connecticut, western
Massachusetts, and upstate New York. While
he moved from village to village seeking commissions,
he seems always to have had a steady
flow of work. His style changed considerably
over the decades, but its constants were a sure
line, strong coloring, and a plain background.
Betsy Brownell Gilbert (1796–1825) lived in
Columbia County, New York. Her Empire-style
dress suggests a date for her portrait of about
1820, when Phillips was living in nearby Rhinebeck,
New York. The fashionable comb Betsy
wears in her hair (the original of which is displayed
nearby) was probably made from the
shell of a hawksbill tortoise from the Caribbean.

Status

On view

Object numberL2015.41.162