Elizabeth Stevens Carle, c. 1783/1784

Not on View

Medium

oil on canvas

Dimensions

overall: 96.84 × 80.33 cm (38 1/8 × 31 5/8 in.)

framed: 108.27 × 91.76 × 5.4 cm (42 5/8 × 36 1/8 × 2 1/8 in.)

Credit Line

Corcoran Collection (Museum Purchase, Gallery Fund)

Accession Number

2015.19.74

Artists / Makers

Joseph Wright (painter) American, 1756 - 1793

Image Use

This image is in the public domain.
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Provenance

The sitter, Elizabeth Stevens Carle [1761-1790], Baker's Basin, New Jersey; by inheritance to her grandniece, Sarah Smith Phillips Stevens [1841-1921], Trenton;[1] by inheritance to her nephew, James Francis Armstrong Phillips [1885-1956];[2] Frederick Titus Bechtel [d. 1948], Trenton;[3] by inheritance to his widow, Edna McNiece Bechtel [1880-1974],Trenton; purchased 17 August 1950 by (M. Knoedler & Co., New York);[4} sold December 1950 to the Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington; acquired 2015 by the National Gallery of Art.

[1] It appears that after the sitter's death at the young age of 29 the painting was returned to her Stevens family. The sitter's niece (daughter of her brother Thomas Stevens Jr., and born after her death), Catherine Stevens, married James A. Phillips. Their daughter, Sarah Smith Phillips, married Thomas S. Stevens. See NGA curatorial files for extensive notes and documents concerning the descent of the painting in the sitter's extended family; much of the research was done in 2008 by Ashlee Whitaker, intern at the Smithsonian Institution's National Portrait Gallery.

[2] James F.A. Phillips was the son of Sarah S.P. Stevens' younger brother, Benjamin Mershon Phillips. James is named in her will as his aunt's nephew, heir, and executor.

[3] In a letter of 8 December 1950 to Eleanor Swenson of the Corcoran Gallery of Art, in NGA curatorial files, Elizabeth Clare of Knoedler's quotes a letter the dealer had received from Bechtel's widow: "Elizabeth Stevens['] portrait came to us [the Bechtels] from Mr. Phillips' aunt, Mrs. Sarah Phillips Stevens." Frederick Bechtel's family were neighbors of a sister of Sarah S.P. Stevens, although research has not yet determined whether the two families are actually related.

[4] Phone conversation, 27 February 2008, with Knoedler librarian and archivist Edye Weissler, recorded in NGA curatorial files.

Associated Names

Bechtel, Edna McNiece
Bechtel, Frederick Titus
Carle, Elizabeth Stevens
Corcoran Gallery of Art
Knoedler & Company, M.
Phillips, James Francis Armstrong
Stevens, Sarah Smith Phillips

Exhibition History

1951: Progress of a Collection, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, 7 January - 7 February 1951, no checklist, as by Matthew Pratt.

1966: Past and Present: 250 Years of American Art, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, 15 April - 30 September 1966, unpublished checklist, as by Matthew Pratt.

1972: Conservation in the Museum, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, 15 September - 22 October 1972, unpublished checklist, as by Matthew Pratt.

1976: Corcoran [The American Genius], Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, 24 January - 4 April 1976, unnumbered catalogue, as by Matthew Pratt.

2005: Encouraging American Genius: Master Paintings from the Corcoran Gallery of Art, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington; Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; Parrish Art Museum, Southampton; Mint Museum of Art, Charlotte; John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art, Sarasota, 2005-2007, checklist no. 4, as by Matthew Pratt.

2008: The American Evolution: A History through Art, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, 1 March - 27 July 2008, unpublished checklist.

2013: American Journeys: Visions of Place, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, 21 September 2013 - 28 September 2014, unpublished checklist.

Bibliography

2011: Miles, Ellen G. "Joseph Wright, Elizabeth Stevens Carle." In Corcoran Gallery of Art: American Paintings to 1945. Edited by Sarah Cash. Washington, 2011: 54-55, 254, repro.