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Miss Satterlee
Charles Bird King (born Newport, RI 1785-died Washington, DC 1862)
ca. 1830-1839
- Medium
- oil on wood
- Classification
- Paintings
- Dimensions
- 17 5/8 x 14 1/8 in. (44.8 x 35.8 cm.)
- Museum
- Smithsonian Institution, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Painting and Sculpture
- Credit line
- Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Albert M. Pitcher, Jr.
- Rights
- CC0 (Smithsonian Open Access), 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 Smithsonian Institution
About this work
Miss Satterlee sat for Charles Bird King in his Washington studio. Her pet golden pheasant grips her forefinger and thumb, its elegant body mirroring the shape of her delicate hand. For a painter of his time, King made a rather daring choice in positioning the bird to call attention to Miss Satterlee’s bosom. Her fashionable clothing, intricate hairstyle, and fair, unblemished skin suggest that she, like her pet, lived a sheltered and protected life.
