Attributed to Benjamin Tappan (1773 - 1857)

Mrs. Sarah Tappan

1794

Gray wash and graphite on beige paper

Sheet: 12 5/8 x 7 5/8 in. ( 32.1 x 19.4 cm )

Gift of John K. Wright, 1945

Z.2427

Born in Massachusetts, Benjamin Tappan began his life as a printer and engraver. He studied painting with Gilbert Stuart, before turning to law. Tappan later became a judge and a U.S. Senator. He drew this series of twenty-five life-size silhouettes during his early career as an artist. They involved a tracing process, either by outlining a shadow or the sitters’ profiles with a device, after which the artist applied gray wash inside the outlines. Tappan inscribed each silhouette with the sitter’s name, including the profile of his wife, Sarah Holmes Tappan.

DescriptionSilhouette: Life-size (?) right-facing profile of female subject; ink wash within outline in graphite on paper with handwritten description below.

InscribedInscribed at lower center in brown ink: "Mrs Sarah Tappan Northampton / Jany 1794"

ClassificationsDRAWINGS