Portrait of Hiram Powers' Daughter
Medium
Painting
Classification
Painting
Department
Smithsonian Collection
Museum
Smithsonian American Art Museum
Credit
Smithsonian American Art Museum, Bequest of Martha F. Butler
Accession Number
1992.66.5
Rights
Public Domain
Tags
waist lengthPortrait female
About this artwork
This girl is thought to be Louisa Greenough Powers, the sculptor Hiram Powers’s oldest daughter. In this portrait, she is about ten or eleven years old and wears a white robe and holds a cross, symbolizing her purity and innocence. Miner Kilbourne Kellogg painted her face to reflect the quality of marble, as if to pay homage to Hiram Powers’s rank as the leading American sculptor of his day. Kellogg may have painted this portrait as a token of thanks to Powers for securing him a studio in Floren...