Portrait of a Lady

Through the generosity of an anonymous donor, the Mount Vernon Ladies’ Association recently purchased a remarkable, unfinished portrait of Elizabeth Willing Powel, one of George and Martha Washington’s closest friends. More than a century before women won the right to vote, Powel was one of the most politically active women of her generation, noted for her critical role in persuading George Washington to stand for a second term as president. [See story, The Influencer.]

The portrait captures its subject’s personality and presence. Although more research remains to be done, its style and unfinished condition suggest that it may have been painted in 1793, during one of the most interesting—and tragic—years of Elizabeth’s life.

That year began on a high note, with Powel turning 50 on February 21, and her husband Samuel Powel, Speaker of the Pennsylvania Senate, organizing a grand ball in her honor at their home on Third Street, the night before George Washington’s own birthday. The night was filled with toasts and dances, and numerous guests wrote poems in her honor. George Washington was at Mount Vernon and could not attend, but he commissioned a poem celebrating her beauty and charm. Such a year would seem a likely one to commemorate her visage for posterity.

The unsigned work is executed with an assurance and fluidity very few American artists could have achieved during the period, the composition carefully built up with ethereal brushstrokes. These and other details point to noted Philadelphia artist Joseph Wright as the most likely painter. In the portrait, Powel wears her silver hair in a “hedgehog,” pulled to the top of her head and secured with a ribbon. The hand at her chest was likely intended by the artist to hold a portrait miniature of her husband. Her style of hair and dress indicate that either she or the artist was aware of the latest French fashions. Interestingly, in a group portrait of the Wright family in 1793, the artist painted his wife in the same hairstyle and attire. The group portrait also remains unfinished, because Wright died during the yellow fever epidemic in September 1793.

Within weeks, as the fever raged through Philadelphia, Powel’s own husband died of the same illness. She subsequently went into a period of deep mourning, and it is possible that she never had the portrait finished as it reminded her of painful times.