Charles Willson Peale
Mary Sterett (Mrs. Richard Gittings, Sr.)
1787
Physical Qualities
Oil on canvas, Framed: 39 1/2 × 33 3/8 × 3 1/8 in. (100.3 × 84.8 × 7.9 cm.)
Sight: 32 1/2 × 26 3/8 in. (82.6 × 67 cm.)
Credit Line
Bequest of D. Sterett Gittings
Object Number
1948.11
Stylishly gowned and coiffed, 16-year-old Mary Sterett (1772–1847) embodies youth, beauty, and privilege. Peale, who was equally interested in art and natural history, included a caged mockingbird in Mary’s portrait. Mary has opened the door, but the text of the open book reads “I can’t get out.” This lends a note of ambiguity to the portrait, painted the year she married Richard Gittings, Sr.
Baltimore Museum of Art by bequest, 1948; David Sterett Gittings (1861-1948), Baltimore, MD by descent, 1884; Richard J. (1830-1882) and Victoria Gittings (1833-1884), Worcester, MD by descent, 1887; David (1797-1887) and Julianna W.H. Gittings (1797-1847), Worcester, MD by descent, 1847; Richard J. Gittings (1763-1830) and Mary "Polly" Sterett (1772-1847)(m. November 30, 1788), Baltimore, MD, by commission, 1788
Sellers, Charles Coleman. "Portraits and Miniatures by Charles Willson Peale," Philadelphia: The American Philosophical Society, 1952, pp. 88-89, no. 302, ill. no. 217
Johnston, Sona K. "American Painting 1750-1900 from the Collection of The Baltimore Museum of Art," 1983, pp. 113-114, ill. p. 114
Inscribed: l.l. on base of column "C. W. Peale / pinx: 1788"
On View at the BMA
