# Mary Walsh McBlair

- Date: ca. 1801-1872
- Medium: watercolor on ivory
- Classification: Paintings
- Dimensions: image (oval): 1 1/2 x 1 1/8 in. (3.7 x 2.9 cm)
- Credit line: Smithsonian American Art Museum, Bequest of Mary Elizabeth Spencer
- Museum: [Smithsonian Institution](https://americanart.si.edu/collections/search/artwork/?id=38377)
- Rights: [CC0 (Smithsonian Open Access)](https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/)
- Picture: https://invisiblenetwork.ai/thumbs/web/9e3d0849145b8118d0d6f992b1dbcaf2.jpg
- Who can see it: Tweens profiles and older (museums give no ratings; placed by Invisible Network from the museum's own words)

Thomas Sully traveled to England to study under Benjamin West in 1809. Upon his return, he emerged as one of Philadelphia’s leading miniaturists, and by 1830 was regarded as one of the best portrait painters in the country. Compared with his earlier, realistic work, Mary Walsh McBlair is painted in the more sentimental and romantic style that he adopted during his stay in England.