The attribution to Salome Hensel and date (1823) of the National Gallery's To the Memory of the Benevolent Howard (1971.83.22), an unsigned theorem painting, are based on a label that was once afixed to the reverse. It reads: "This painting was done in 1823 by Salome Hensel eldest daughter of George and Catherine Noon Hensel. Salome was afterwards Mrs. Salome Hensel Albright wife of George Albright. The picture came into the possession of their daughter Mrs. Emily C. Albright Knight wife of Dr. H.D. Knight and was framed by them Nov. 1886."
Theorem painting was the process of making pictures with stencils. Other works by Hensel and further biographical information have yet to be discovered. [This is an edited version of the artist's biography published in the NGA Systematic Catalogue]
Artist Bibliography
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: 180-182.