Ralph Eleaser Whiteside Earl

American, 1788 - 1838

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The artwork is a family portrait depicting four people seated together. On the left, a woman is shown from the waist up, facing forward. She has dark hair styled back and is wearing a long-sleeved, high-collared light gray dress with lace details at the neckline. She also wears earrings. Next to her, a young boy is seated, wearing a green outfit with gold buttons and a white ruffled collar. He holds a bowl of fruit. Another boy is seated beside him, wearing a similar green outfit. The man on the right wears a black coat with a white vest and cravat. He has short brown hair and his right hand rests on the shoulder of the boy beside him. They are all seated on a red upholstered couch with a green curtain and a scenic view of the sky and trees in the background.
Ralph Eleaser Whiteside Earl, Family Portrait, 1804, oil on canvas, Gift of Edgar William and Bernice Chrysler Garbisch, 1953.5.8

Family Portrait

Ralph Eleaser Whiteside Earl · 1804 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1953.5.8

Bibliography

1964

  • Morrissey, Eleanor Fleming. Portraits in Tennessee Painted Before 1866. National Society of Colonial Dames of America in Tennessee, Nashville (?), 1964.

1971

  • MacBeth, Jerome R. "Portraits by Ralph E. W. Earl." Antiques 100 (September 1971): 390-393.

1972

  • The American Earls. Ralph Earl, James Earl, R. E. W. Earl. Exh. cat. William Benton Museum of Art, University of Connecticut, Storrs, 1972.

1992

  • Chotner, Deborah, with contributions by Julie Aronson, Sarah D. Cash, and Laurie Weitzenkorn. American Naive Paintings. The Collections of the National Gallery of Art Systematic Catalogue. Washington, D.C., 1992: 103-104.