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Portrait of Susan Coren Towers
James Peale (American, born The Thirteen Colonies, 1749–1831)
1796
- Medium
- watercolor on ivory
- Classification
- Portrait Miniature
- Dimensions
- Framed: 8 x 6.6 cm (3 1/8 x 2 5/8 in.); Unframed: 7.1 x 5.6 cm (2 13/16 x 2 3/16 in.)
- Culture
- United States
- Museum
- Cleveland Museum of Art, American Painting and Sculpture
- Credit line
- The Edward B. Greene Collection
- Rights
- Public domain (CC0), as the museum states it.
- Who can see it
- Tweens profiles and older: its subjects are known and suit older children. How works are placed
View at the Cleveland Museum of Art
About this work
Susan Coren Towers was the daughter of a major in the Revolutionary War, and her husband was a successful woolen goods manufacturer. While little is known about Towers outside of her husband’s and father’s pursuits, Peale painted her with slightly asymmetrical clothing, bouncy curls, and a slight smirk, possible hints at her personality. While many portrait miniatures have compartments containing the sitter’s hair, this example holds hair from two individuals, likely Towers and a loved one.
