Lady with a Harp: Eliza Ridgely

1818

Thomas Sully

Artist, American, born England, 1783 - 1872

A pale-skinned woman wearing a shimmering, pearl-white dress stands next to a harp, which is taller than she is, in this vertical portrait painting. The woman’s body faces us, but she angles her head slightly to our right. She looks up and off into the distance with gray-blue eyes under dark, curved brows. She has an oval face with a narrow chin. Her cheeks are flushed, and her full pink lips are closed. Her hair is pulled up, and chin-length curls frame her face. A ruffle, perhaps of lace, lines the low neckline of her dress, which has a sheen suggesting satin or silk. The gown has short, cap sleeves and falls in a narrow A-line to her pointed white shoes. One foot rests on a pedal at the base of the harp, and behind her is a low stool with a round, dark orange upholstered seat and a wood pedestal base. A topaz-blue brocade-patterned scarf with fringed narrow ends falls over one of the woman’s shoulders, down her back, across the stool, and then puddles on the floor. The woman’s right arm, on our left, rests over the upward curving neck of the harp. She holds a T-shaped tuning key in that hand. Her other hand reaches across her body to touch the strings. The crown of the harp is ornately carved with leaves, and the instruments rests on low, clawed feet. The carpet or floor is patterned with concentric circles and patterned rings in peach, moss green, soft yellow, and pink. A gray stone column rises to our right behind the woman, and a ledge spans the rest of the space behind her. The landscape beyond has hills and trees leading back to the horizon, which comes about halfway up the composition. Parchment-brown clouds swirl against a muted blue sky above. The artist signed the work as if his initials and date were written on the base of the harp. The intwined letters T and S are followed by the date, 1818.

Media Options

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When Thomas Sully painted fifteen-year-old Eliza Ridgely in the spring of 1818, he was widely regarded as America's leading artist. Particularly noted for his graceful images of women, he was a natural choice to paint this Baltimore merchant's daughter.

In painting Eliza, Sully emphasized her privileged social status as well as her delicate, youthful charm. Her family affluence is indicated by her up-to-the-minute hair style and dress, inspired by contemporary European designs in the neo-Grecian manner. The satin of her Empire gown is carefully described through fluid brushwork and brilliant highlights. Eliza, as a young lady of cultural accomplishment, posed with her European pedal harp. She idly plucks the harp strings and gazes dreamily into space, as if musing on the lyrical chord she strikes. A fiery sunset heightens the romantic reverie.

Although she may very well have possessed luminous eyes, arched brows, and a porcelain complexion, Miss Ridgely's figure has been greatly idealized. Sully, for the sake of fashionable elegance, exaggerated her legs to half again as long as any conceivably normal proportion. Sully once wrote, "From long experience I know that resemblance in a portrait is essential; but no fault will be found with the artist, at least by the sitter, if he improve the appearance."

More information on this painting can be found in the Gallery publication American Paintings of the Nineteenth Century, Part II, pages 151-159, which is available as a free PDF (21MB).

On View

West Building Main Floor, Gallery 62

Artwork overview

  • Medium

    oil on canvas

  • Credit Line

    Gift of Maude Monell Vetlesen

  • Dimensions

    overall: 214.5 x 142.5 cm (84 7/16 x 56 1/8 in.)
    framed: 242.6 x 172.1 x 9.8 cm (95 1/2 x 67 3/4 x 3 7/8 in.)

  • Accession

    1945.9.1

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

The sitter's son, Charles Ridgely [1830-1872], Hampton, Towson, Maryland;[1] his son, Captain John Ridgely [1851-1938], Hampton, Towson, Maryland; his son, John Ridgely, Jr. [1882-1959], Hampton, Towson, Maryland; purchased 1945 by NGA.
[1] The portrait was commissioned by the sitter's father, Nicholas Ridgely, who received it in the early fall of 1818. Records at Hampton National Historic Site do not indicate when the portrait came to Hampton, but the most probable period was somewhere between January of 1828, when Eliza married John Ridgely, and December of 1829, when her father died. Eliza was the principal heir to her father's estate, and received everything apart from a few specific bequests. (See letter of 24 October 1997 from Lynn Dakin Hastings, Curator and Acting Superintendent of Hampton National Historic Site, in NGA curatorial files.)

Associated Names

Exhibition History

1818

  • Seventh Annual Exhibition of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia, 1818, no. 112, as Full length Portrait of a Young Lady of Maryland.

1921

  • Loan Exhibition of Sully Portraits Owned in Maryland, The Maryland Institute and Municipal Art Society, Baltimore, 1921, no. 8, as Mrs. John Ridgely.

1933

  • Exhibition of Baltimore Owned Art Treasures, Baltimore Museum of Art, 1933, no. 42.

1940

  • Survey of American Painting, Carnegie Institute, Pittsburgh, 1940, no. 110.

1945

  • 250 Years of Painting in Maryland, Baltimore Museum of Art, 1945, no. 89.

1954

  • The One Hundred and Fiftieth Anniversary Exhibition of The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia, 1955, no. 32, repro.

1981

  • American Portraiture in the Grand Manner: 1720-1920, Los Angeles County Museum of Art; National Portrait Gallery, Washington, D.C., 1981-1982, no. 29, repro. (shown only in Los Angeles).

1983

  • Mr. Sully, Portrait Painter: The Works of Thomas Sully (1783-1872), National Portrait Gallery, Washington, D.C., 1983, no. 28.

1993

  • Classical Taste in America, 1800-1840, Baltimore Museum of Art; Mint Museum of Art, Charlotte, North Carolina; The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, 1993-1994, no. 216, repro. (cat. by Wendy A. Cooper).

2013

  • Thomas Sully: Painted Performance, Milwaukee Art Museum; San Antonio Museum of Art, 2013-2014, no. 13, repro., as Elizabeth Eichelberger Ridgely (Lady with a Harp).

Bibliography

1909

  • Hart 1909, no. 1408, 140.

1921

  • Biddle, Edward, and Mantle Fielding. The Life and Works of Thomas Sully (1783-1872). Philadelphia, 1921: no. 1474, 259.

1952

  • Cairns, Huntington, and John Walker, eds., Great Paintings from the National Gallery of Art. New York, 1952: 140, color repro.

1959

  • Bouton, Margaret. American Painting in the National Gallery of Art. Washington, D.C., 1959 (Booklet Number One in Ten Schools of Painting in the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.): 22, color repro.

1963

  • Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. New York, 1963 (reprinted 1964 in French, German, and Spanish): 327, repro.

1970

  • American Paintings and Sculpture: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1970: 112, repro.

1973

  • Finley, David Edward. A Standard of Excellence: Andrew W. Mellon Founds the National Gallery of Art at Washington. Washington, 1973: 133-135, repro., 137, 138.

1980

  • Wilmerding, John. American Masterpieces from the National Gallery of Art. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1980: 13, no. 8, color repro.

  • American Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1980: 243, repro.

1981

  • Gerdts, William H. "Natural Aristocrats in a Democracy: 1810-1870." In American Portraiture in the Grand Manner: 1720-1920. Exh. cat. Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1981: 35, 128, color repro. 130.

  • Williams, William James. A Heritage of American Paintings from the National Gallery of Art. New York, 1981: 87, repro. 88.

1982

  • Shipe, Bess Paterson. "Eliza Eichelberger Ridgely, 'The Lady with a Harp'." Maryland Historical Magazine 77, no. 3 (Fall 1982): 230-237.

1983

  • Fabian, Monroe H. Mr. Sully, Portrait Painter: The Works of Thomas Sully (1783-1872). Exh. cat. National Portrait Gallery, Washington, D.C., 1983: 70, repro. 71.

1984

  • Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. Rev. ed. New York, 1984: 390, no. 557, color repro.

1988

  • Wilmerding 1988 am Masterpiece, 62, no. 8, color repro.

1992

  • American Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1992: 361, repro.

  • National Gallery of Art, Washington. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1992: 224, repro.

1993

  • Cooper, Wendy A. A Classical Taste in America 1800-1840. Exh. cat. Baltimore Museum of Art, 1993: 266-268, color repro. 267.

  • Cooper, Wendy A. Classical Taste in America. Exh. cat. The Baltimore Museum of Art; Mint Museum of Art, Charlotte, NC; Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. New York, 1993:266-268, repro.

1994

  • Miller, Beth L. "The Ridgelys of Hampton: New Perspectives on Musical Life in Early-Nineteenth-Century Baltimore." Journal of Musicological Research 14 (1994): 35-54, fig. 1.

  • Craven, Wayne. American Art: History and Culture. New York, 1994: 144, color fig. 10.11.

1995

  • Torcia, Robert Wilson. "Eliza Ridgely and the Ideal of American Womanhood, 1787-1820." Maryland Historical Magazine 90, no. 4 (Winter 1995): 405-423, illus.

1998

  • Torchia, Robert Wilson, with Deborah Chotner and Ellen G. Miles. American Paintings of the Nineteenth Century, Part II. The Collections of the National Gallery of Art Systematic Catalogue. Washington, D.C., 1998: 151-159, color repro.

  • Adler, Shane. “Whiteness." In Encyclopedia of Comparative Iconography: Themes Depicted in Works of Art. Edited by Helene E. Roberts. 2 vols. Chicago, 1998: 2:939.

2004

  • Hand, John Oliver. National Gallery of Art: Master Paintings from the Collection. Washington and New York, 2004: 334, no. 268, color repro.

Inscriptions

lower left on harp pedestal: TS (in monogram) 1818

Wikidata ID

Q20184112

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