GENERAL DESCRIPTION
Rachel Leeds Kerr represents Peale at the height of his powers in the late 1780s and 1790s. During the economic depression which followed the American Revolution, Peale was forced to travel extensively through Pennsylvania and Maryland in search of commissions. Rachel Leeds Kerr was the wife of Lt. David Kerr, a justice of the peace in Talbot, Maryland, and member of the Maryland House of Delegates. Kerr appears in a fine though simple satin gown and modish headdress, seated in a carved chair at an elegant table. Through the window, the verdant fields and flocks of sheep testify to the Kerrs' prosperity. These symbolic props not only reveal Rachel Leeds Kerr as the wife of a successful planter but also as a woman of gentility and taste. Like all of Charles Wilson Peale's works, this portrait has a linear quality, featuring strongly marked contour lines and a careful delineation of materials.
Adapted from
- William Keyse Rudolph, DMA Label text, 2006
- Eleanor Jones Harvey, "Charles Willson Peale, Rachel Leeds Kerr," in Dallas Museum of Art: A Guide to the Collection, ed. Charles Venable (New Haven, NJ: Yale University Press, 1997), 218.
NOTES
Created in 1790
Scanned relevant labels and documentation from the education file for Peale.
Education file for Peale also had photocopies of articles and secondary reasources, some or all of which could be in the object file.
Reviewed TMS record.
Reviewed object file.
Vose Galleries documentation has additional name of descendant at the base of the page but his relationship to the portrait's sitter or the object information is not clear? Name- Mark Brickell Kerr, Grassmere, NY.
Correspondance in the file to Gabriela truly, 21 March 1998, from Mary Lou Floyd (246 Philip Place, Philadelphia, PA 19106) notes that the author's husband, Michael Floyd is the great-great-great grandson of Rachel Leeds Kerr.
Related exhibitions:
A Tribute to Pauline Gill Sullivan
Faces of a New Nation: Colonial American Portraits
publication- exhibition cat- Tri Delta Charity Antiques Show, 1988
RACHEL LEEDS:
nee Rachel Leeds Bozman
married name- Mrs. David kerr
married first husband, James Edmondson
b. May 2, 1755 in Talbot County, maryland, father was John Bozman (d. 1767)
d. June 28, 1830
married April 17, 1777 David Kerr (1749-1814)-- David Kerr was from Monreith, Galloway, Scotland, moved to Virginia in 1769, then to Aanapolis, MD in 1773. and then Talbot County, MD, member of the House of Delegates 1783-1794 (delegate to the General Asembly of MD 1788-94 and 1797), justice of the peace in 1789, later judge of the Orphans' Court. Was the first Grand High Priest of the Grand Royal Chapter of Maryland.
1780- birthyear of one of the Kerr children, Honorable John Leeds Kerr (1780-1844) who was a US Representative from MD 1825-29 and 1831-33, and then Senator from maryland 1841-43.
Rachal Leeds Kerr poses for the artist in her Maryland plantation home. Her wrapped white kerchief of gauze or fine linen is called a bouffant. It exaggerates the top of her outfit, creating the fashionable "pouter pigeon look." Mrs. Kerr's hat, resting on her towering hair style, and the black silk tie around her neck are additional signs that she is aware of the most current fashions and can afford them. Since the artist completed the entire portrait while staying in his client's home, Mrs. Kerr is able to show off her own fine furniture and possessions.
Excerpt from "American Portraits" research document, nd, Education files.
Current label:
Rachel Leeds Kerr was the wife of Lt. David Kerr, a justice of the peace in Talbot, Maryland, and member of the Maryland House of Delegates. Like all of Charles Willson Peale's works, this portrait has a linear quality, featuring strongly marked contour lines and a careful delineation of materials-largely due to Peale's self-taught background, which not even two years' study in London with Benjamin West could totally soften.
William Keyse Rudolph, DMA Label copy (1989.23), May 2006.
Rachel Leeds Kerr was the wife of David Kerr, a Maryland landholder and member of the House of Delegates. Peale quickly executed the painting during the month of December 1790. Mrs. Kerr appears in a fine though simple satin gown and modish headdresss, seated in a carved chair at an elegant table. Through the window, the verdant fields and flocks of sheep testify to the Kerrs' prosperity. The restrained elegance of the costume and setting reflects the tastes of the young nation, which rejected the airs and graces of British portraiture, and desired instead to project a sober gentility in its civic leaders.
_________
Following a period of self- and semi-professional instruction, Charles Willson Peale traveled to London in 1768 to study with the famous American-born painter, Benjamin West. Peale's two years under West's tutelage, greatly affected his style. In contrast to his stiff and naive early renderings, the work Peale did when he returned from England is finely drawn, and delicately colored.
Rachel Leeds Kerr represents Peale at the height of his powers in the late 1780's and 1790's. During the economic depression which followed the American Revolution, Peale was forced to travel extensively through Pennsylvania and Maryland in search of commissions. On August 27, 1790, Peale noted in his diary, "We then go to East Town and leave picture of Mrs. Barkley at Major Kerr's. Mrs. Kerr intends to have her portrait painted, but the Major is far from home." In December he recorded that he had "begun Mrs. Kerr's picture."
EJH Acqu prop 1989
During the economic recession that followed the American Revolution, Peale traveled extensively through Maryland and Pennsylvania seeking patronage. In December 1790 he began this portrait of Rachel Leeds Kerr (1755-1830), wife of Lt. David Kerr, a member of the House of Delegates and a Justice of the Peace in Talbot County, Maryland. Peale has placed Rachel Kerr at the center of her world, reflecting the late eighteenth-century emphasis on the wife and mother as the head of the household. Dressed in her finest clothing and seated in an upholstered chair, she looks out with a calm, contented smile, her arms resting on the chair and nearby table. Her elaborate headdress, embroidered shawl, fan, and handkerchief bespeak family comforts and nominal wealth; through the window sheep graze on the family property. Her tilted, oval face and pleasant expression are hallmarks of Peale's style, as are the careful draftsmanship and delicate brushwork.
Eleanor Jones Harvey, "Charles Willson Peale, Rachel Leeds Kerr," in Dallas Museum of Art: A Guide to the Collection, ed. Charles Venable (New Haven, NJ: Yale University Press, 1997), 218.
Place of origin: Easton (Maryland/United States): TGN: 2046925
(according to Peale's diary entries of August 27, 1790 and December 1790 transcribed in Vose Galleries documentation, Collection Records Object File.)
Ralph Earl, Mrs. Moses Seymour and Son Epaphroditus-- in correspondence in the object file, George (to Eleanor) suggests this painting shows the same headdress. https://americangallery18th.wordpress.com/tag/moses-seymour/ Cannot find a reliable source for this to use as a web resource
Vose Galleries documentation shows a pendant portrait of David Kerr by Charles Peale Polk? Presumed CPP finished the commission after the departure of his brother and the return of Major Kerr from traveling. Also owned by mark Brickell Kerr, Jr. in 1973.--is this in a private collection?
Catalogue essays
Artist/designers
Cultures
Geography
Depicted location and place of origin: Easton (Maryland/United States): TGN: 2046925
Process/materials
Historical periods
Individuals
Kerr, Rachel Leeds
Kerr, Lt. David
Subject terms
chair
fan
handkerchief
hat
portrait
sheep
sitting
table
trees
woman
wedding ring
pendant
bows
lace
dress
shawl
bonnet
grass
clouds
sky
RELATED OBJECTS
PROVENANCE
1790: David Kerr (1749-1814) and Rachel Leeds Kerr (1755-1830) commissioned from the artist
thence by descent. [1]
Until 1878: Hon. John Bozman Kerr (1809-1878) [2]
From 1973: his grandson, Mark Brickell Kerr, Jr., Deland, Florida
Until 1989: his daughter, Dorothy Kerr McDonald, Florida
From 1989: Dallas Museum of Art, gift of the Pauline Allen Gill Foundation, purchased from the above (Vose Galleries, Boston, MA)
[1] (which probably includes family collections in Connecticut according to only provenance shown on documentation from Vose Galleries in the Collection Records Object File and family collection in Florida according to transcribed phone message from Marina E. Georgaklis of Vose Galleries to Charles Venable: "The painting has descended directly through the family of the sitter and has never been on the market before. It was purchased directly from Mrs. Dorothy Kerr McDonald and comes from a private family collection in Florida.)
[2] [Family names recorded in Genealogical Notes of the Chamberlaine Family of Maryland [compiled from the Records and Manuscripts found among the papers of the Late John Bozman Kerr by Samuel Chamberlaine in 1881], (Cottonport, MD: Polyanthos, 1973), unpaginated; copies provided by Vose Galleries in the Collections Records Object File.
AUDIO ASSETS
VIDEO ASSETS
IMAGE ASSETS
WEB RESOURCES
- Colonial Williamsburg~Learn more about 18th-century fashion at the Colonial Williamsburg website.
ARCHIVAL RESOURCES
FUN FACTS
TEACHING IDEAS
RULES
Apply to objects where number equals 1989.23
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General Description
Rachel Leeds Kerr represents Peale at the height of his powers in the late 1780s and 1790s. During the economic depression which followed the American Revolution, Peale was forced to travel extensively through Pennsylvania and Maryland in search of commissions. Rachel Leeds Kerr was the wife of Lt. David Kerr, a justice of the peace in Talbot, Maryland, and member of the Maryland House of Delegates. Kerr appears in a fine though simple satin gown and modish headdress, seated in a carved chair at an elegant table. Through the window, the verdant fields and flocks of sheep testify to the Kerrs' prosperity. These symbolic props not only reveal Rachel Leeds Kerr as the wife of a successful planter but also as a woman of gentility and taste. Like all of Charles Wilson Peale's works, this portrait has a linear quality, featuring strongly marked contour lines and a careful delineation of materials.
Adapted from
- William Keyse Rudolph, DMA Label text, 2006
- Eleanor Jones Harvey, "Charles Willson Peale, Rachel Leeds Kerr," in Dallas Museum of Art: A Guide to the Collection, ed. Charles Venable (New Haven, NJ: Yale University Press, 1997), 218.
Fun Facts
Archival Resources
Web Resources
Notes
Created in 1790
Scanned relevant labels and documentation from the education file for Peale.
Education file for Peale also had photocopies of articles and secondary reasources, some or all of which could be in the object file.
Reviewed TMS record.
Reviewed object file.
Vose Galleries documentation has additional name of descendant at the base of the page but his relationship to the portrait's sitter or the object information is not clear? Name- Mark Brickell Kerr, Grassmere, NY.
Correspondance in the file to Gabriela truly, 21 March 1998, from Mary Lou Floyd (246 Philip Place, Philadelphia, PA 19106) notes that the author's husband, Michael Floyd is the great-great-great grandson of Rachel Leeds Kerr.
Related exhibitions:
A Tribute to Pauline Gill Sullivan
Faces of a New Nation: Colonial American Portraits
publication- exhibition cat- Tri Delta Charity Antiques Show, 1988
RACHEL LEEDS:
nee Rachel Leeds Bozman
married name- Mrs. David kerr
married first husband, James Edmondson
b. May 2, 1755 in Talbot County, maryland, father was John Bozman (d. 1767)
d. June 28, 1830
married April 17, 1777 David Kerr (1749-1814)-- David Kerr was from Monreith, Galloway, Scotland, moved to Virginia in 1769, then to Aanapolis, MD in 1773. and then Talbot County, MD, member of the House of Delegates 1783-1794 (delegate to the General Asembly of MD 1788-94 and 1797), justice of the peace in 1789, later judge of the Orphans' Court. Was the first Grand High Priest of the Grand Royal Chapter of Maryland.
1780- birthyear of one of the Kerr children, Honorable John Leeds Kerr (1780-1844) who was a US Representative from MD 1825-29 and 1831-33, and then Senator from maryland 1841-43.
Rachal Leeds Kerr poses for the artist in her Maryland plantation home. Her wrapped white kerchief of gauze or fine linen is called a bouffant. It exaggerates the top of her outfit, creating the fashionable "pouter pigeon look." Mrs. Kerr's hat, resting on her towering hair style, and the black silk tie around her neck are additional signs that she is aware of the most current fashions and can afford them. Since the artist completed the entire portrait while staying in his client's home, Mrs. Kerr is able to show off her own fine furniture and possessions.
Excerpt from "American Portraits" research document, nd, Education files.
Current label:
Rachel Leeds Kerr was the wife of Lt. David Kerr, a justice of the peace in Talbot, Maryland, and member of the Maryland House of Delegates. Like all of Charles Willson Peale's works, this portrait has a linear quality, featuring strongly marked contour lines and a careful delineation of materials-largely due to Peale's self-taught background, which not even two years' study in London with Benjamin West could totally soften.
William Keyse Rudolph, DMA Label copy (1989.23), May 2006.
Rachel Leeds Kerr was the wife of David Kerr, a Maryland landholder and member of the House of Delegates. Peale quickly executed the painting during the month of December 1790. Mrs. Kerr appears in a fine though simple satin gown and modish headdresss, seated in a carved chair at an elegant table. Through the window, the verdant fields and flocks of sheep testify to the Kerrs' prosperity. The restrained elegance of the costume and setting reflects the tastes of the young nation, which rejected the airs and graces of British portraiture, and desired instead to project a sober gentility in its civic leaders.
_________
Following a period of self- and semi-professional instruction, Charles Willson Peale traveled to London in 1768 to study with the famous American-born painter, Benjamin West. Peale's two years under West's tutelage, greatly affected his style. In contrast to his stiff and naive early renderings, the work Peale did when he returned from England is finely drawn, and delicately colored.
Rachel Leeds Kerr represents Peale at the height of his powers in the late 1780's and 1790's. During the economic depression which followed the American Revolution, Peale was forced to travel extensively through Pennsylvania and Maryland in search of commissions. On August 27, 1790, Peale noted in his diary, "We then go to East Town and leave picture of Mrs. Barkley at Major Kerr's. Mrs. Kerr intends to have her portrait painted, but the Major is far from home." In December he recorded that he had "begun Mrs. Kerr's picture."
EJH Acqu prop 1989
During the economic recession that followed the American Revolution, Peale traveled extensively through Maryland and Pennsylvania seeking patronage. In December 1790 he began this portrait of Rachel Leeds Kerr (1755-1830), wife of Lt. David Kerr, a member of the House of Delegates and a Justice of the Peace in Talbot County, Maryland. Peale has placed Rachel Kerr at the center of her world, reflecting the late eighteenth-century emphasis on the wife and mother as the head of the household. Dressed in her finest clothing and seated in an upholstered chair, she looks out with a calm, contented smile, her arms resting on the chair and nearby table. Her elaborate headdress, embroidered shawl, fan, and handkerchief bespeak family comforts and nominal wealth; through the window sheep graze on the family property. Her tilted, oval face and pleasant expression are hallmarks of Peale's style, as are the careful draftsmanship and delicate brushwork.
Eleanor Jones Harvey, "Charles Willson Peale, Rachel Leeds Kerr," in Dallas Museum of Art: A Guide to the Collection, ed. Charles Venable (New Haven, NJ: Yale University Press, 1997), 218.
Place of origin: Easton (Maryland/United States): TGN: 2046925
(according to Peale's diary entries of August 27, 1790 and December 1790 transcribed in Vose Galleries documentation, Collection Records Object File.)
Ralph Earl, Mrs. Moses Seymour and Son Epaphroditus-- in correspondence in the object file, George (to Eleanor) suggests this painting shows the same headdress. https://americangallery18th.wordpress.com/tag/moses-seymour/ Cannot find a reliable source for this to use as a web resource
Vose Galleries documentation shows a pendant portrait of David Kerr by Charles Peale Polk? Presumed CPP finished the commission after the departure of his brother and the return of Major Kerr from traveling. Also owned by mark Brickell Kerr, Jr. in 1973.--is this in a private collection?
Catalogue essays
Artist/designers
Cultures
Geography
Depicted location and place of origin: Easton (Maryland/United States): TGN: 2046925
Process/materials
Historical periods
Individuals
Kerr, Rachel Leeds
Kerr, Lt. David
Subject terms
chair
fan
handkerchief
hat
portrait
sheep
sitting
table
trees
woman
wedding ring
pendant
bows
lace
dress
shawl
bonnet
grass
clouds
sky
RELATED OBJECTS
PROVENANCE
1790: David Kerr (1749-1814) and Rachel Leeds Kerr (1755-1830) commissioned from the artist
thence by descent. [1]
Until 1878: Hon. John Bozman Kerr (1809-1878) [2]
From 1973: his grandson, Mark Brickell Kerr, Jr., Deland, Florida
Until 1989: his daughter, Dorothy Kerr McDonald, Florida
From 1989: Dallas Museum of Art, gift of the Pauline Allen Gill Foundation, purchased from the above (Vose Galleries, Boston, MA)
[1] (which probably includes family collections in Connecticut according to only provenance shown on documentation from Vose Galleries in the Collection Records Object File and family collection in Florida according to transcribed phone message from Marina E. Georgaklis of Vose Galleries to Charles Venable: "The painting has descended directly through the family of the sitter and has never been on the market before. It was purchased directly from Mrs. Dorothy Kerr McDonald and comes from a private family collection in Florida.)
[2] [Family names recorded in Genealogical Notes of the Chamberlaine Family of Maryland [compiled from the Records and Manuscripts found among the papers of the Late John Bozman Kerr by Samuel Chamberlaine in 1881], (Cottonport, MD: Polyanthos, 1973), unpaginated; copies provided by Vose Galleries in the Collections Records Object File.
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