The Ragan Sisters

1818

Jacob Eichholtz

Artist, American, 1776 - 1842

Jacob Eichholtz

Attributed to

Two young, pale-skinned girls wearing white stand side-by-side on a stone terrace in this vertical portrait painting. Each girl wears a long-sleeved, floor-length white dress with a ruffled collar and cuffs. The girl on the left wears a bonnet decorated with white, pink, and red flowers. Carnation-pink ribbons wrap around the crown and ripple off each side, presumably to be tied under the chin. She holds a tawny-brown book about the size of a postcard down in her right hand, to our left. She wraps her other arm around the waist of the second girl, who drapes one arm across the first girl’s shoulders. This second girl’s other arm rests across her middle, and the ribbons of her bonnet, which is identical to the first, are tied in a bow and hangs from that forearm. Both girls have heart-shaped faces, flushed cheeks, flat noses, wide-set eyes, and pale pink lips, which curve in slight smiles. Both have honey-brown hair combed to one side and pulled back. Behind them, a stone balustrade and pillars enclose the space, and a red curtain is drawn to the right side of the painting. Above the wall, dark clouds crowd the evening sky. The ground or terrace is olive green.

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Artwork overview

  • Medium

    oil on canvas

  • Credit Line

    Gift of Mrs. Cooper R. Drewry

  • Dimensions

    overall: 151.2 x 108 cm (59 1/2 x 42 1/2 in.)

  • Accession Number

    1959.6.1

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

Mary Ragan's daughter, Mary (Mollie) Ragan Macgill [Mrs. Henry Rosenberg, 1839-1917], Galveston, Texas; bequeathed to her nephew, Dr. Cooper R. Drewry, Catonsville, Maryland; upon his death to his wife, Mrs. Cooper R. Drewry[1], Baltimore; gift 1959 to NGA.
[1] In a note to William Campbell of 18 July 1960 (in NGA curatorial files), Mrs. Drewry signs her name as Tasker James Drewry.

Associated Names

Exhibition History

1950

  • Behold the Child, Baltimore Museum of Art, 1950, unnumbered.

1960

  • Faces of America, Inaugural Exhibition, El Paso Museum of Art, Texas, 1960-1961, no cat.

  • American Painters of the South, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1960, no. 48.

1970

  • Two Centuries of American Portraits, University of Kentucky Art Gallery, Lexington; Paducah Art Gallery, Kentucky; J. B. Speed Museum of Art, Louisville, 1970, no cat.

1972

  • Sesquicentennial Exhibition, Cummer Gallery of Art, Jacksonville, Florida, 1972, no. 6.

Bibliography

1960

  • Milley, John Calvin. "Jacob Eichholtz, 1776-1842." Master's thesis, University of Delaware, 1960: no. 53, 379.

1969

  • Beal, Rebecca J. Jacob Eichholtz, 1776-1842. Philadelphia, 1969: no. 692, 199-200.

1970

  • American Paintings and Sculpture: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1970: 56, repro.

1980

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

  • American Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1980: 155, repro.

1988

  • Wilmerding, John. American Masterpieces from the National Gallery of Art. Rev. ed. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1988: 74, no. 14, color repro.

1992

  • American Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1992: 173, repro.

1996

  • Kelly, Franklin, with Nicolai Cikovsky, Jr., Deborah Chotner, and John Davis. American Paintings of the Nineteenth Century, Part I. The Collections of the National Gallery of Art Systematic Catalogue. Washington, D.C., 1996: 204-207, color repro.

2003

  • The Worlds of Jacob Eichholtz, Portrait Painter of the Early Republic. Exh. cat. Lancaster County History Society, Pennsylvania (plus two other simultaneous venues), 2003: 72-73, fig. 4.10.

2013

  • Smith, Roberta. "Curator, Tear Down These Walls." New York Times 162, no. 56,036 (February 3, 2013): AR-23, color repro.

Wikidata ID

Q20184142

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