Edward Appleton
ca. 1835
Medium
Painting-Miniature
Classification
Painting-Miniature
Department
Smithsonian Collection
Museum
Smithsonian American Art Museum
Credit
Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase through the Catherine Walden Myer Fund
Accession Number
1942.11.3
Tags
About this artwork
Edward Appleton was Sarah Goodridgeâs nephew, the son of Sarahâs sister, Beulah Goodridge, and Thomas Appleton, who were married in Boston in 1812. In 1851, Sarah bought a house in Reading that she shared with her sisterâs family.
Art Historical Context
Sarah Goodridge’s miniature portrait of her nephew Edward Appleton captures a tender family connection from the early nineteenth century. Painted around 1835, this small-scale work depicts the young son of Goodridge’s sister Beulah and her husband Thomas Appleton. The intimate likeness reflects the close bonds within the Goodridge family, which later included a shared home in Reading, Massachusetts, purchased by Sarah in 1851. As a leading American miniaturist, Goodridge specialized in delicate portraits on ivory, a medium prized for its luminous quality and portability. These tiny paintings ...
About the Artist
Sarah Goodridge · 1788–1853
Sarah Goodridge (1788–1853) was a pioneering American miniaturist whose exquisite portrait miniatures captured the likenesses of prominent figures during the early republic. Born on February 5 in Templeton, Massachusetts, as the sixth of nine children to farmer Ebenezer Goodridge and Beulah Childs, she displayed artistic talent from childhood despite limited resources. Largely self-taught, she ske...