Margaret Foley was a member of the New England School of Design, and gave instruction in drawing and painting. She resided in Lowell, and was frequently applied to for her cameos, which she cut beautifully. Miss Sarah Mackintosh was accustomed to draw on stone for a large glass company, and other ladies designed in the carpet factory at Lowell and in the Merrimack print-works, showing the ability of women to engage in such occupations.
Several have made a livelihood by the business of engraving on wood, and drawing for different works.
Mrs. Ball Hughes, of Boston, the wife of the sculptor, supported her family by painting and by giving lessons in the art. Mrs. Chapin had a large drawing school in Providence, and, with facility in every style, is said to be admirable in crayons. Many others might be mentioned, but it does not comport with the design of this work to record even the names of all who deserve the tribute of praise.
ANNA C. PEALE (MRS. DUNCAN).
Several ladies of the Peale family have been distinguished as artists, and are mentioned in the histories of painting in America. The parents of the subject of this sketch were Captain James Peale and Mary Claypoole. Her maternal ancestors, the Claypooles, came to this country with William Penn, and were among the earliest settlers in Philadelphia. They claimed direct descent from Oliver Cromwell, whose daughter Elizabeth married Sir John Claypoole.
James Peale had great celebrity as a painter, and excelled both in miniatures and oil portraits. He was not only remarkable for success in his likenesses, but had the faculty of making them handsome withal, so that he was called among his acquaintances “the flattering artist.” This pleasing effect he gave, not by altering the features, but by happy touches of expression; and it was one secret of his eminent success. He painted, from actual sittings, several portraits of General Washington and Mrs. Washington. One, a miniature, is now in the possession of his eldest daughter.
On one occasion, when Washington was sitting for his portrait in Mr. Peale’s painting-room, he looked at his watch, and said,
“Mr. Peale, my time for sitting has expired; but, if three minutes longer will be of any importance to you, I will remain, and make up the time by hastening my walk up to the State House (where Congress was in session). I know exactly how long it will take me to walk there; and it will not do for me, as President, to be absent at the hour of meeting.”
Mrs. Washington was as remarkable for punctuality as her illustrious husband. At one time, during the general’s absence, he wrote to her to get Mr. James Peale to paint her portrait in miniature, and to send it to him. Mrs. Washington wrote a note to the artist, saying that her presence at home was indispensable when the general was away, and it would not be convenient for her to attend at his painting-room. She requested him, therefore, to come to her house for the sittings, and offered to accommodate herself to any hour when it would suit him to be away from his studio. In his reply Mr. Peale appointed seven o’clock in the morning. When he left his home to keep the engagement for the first sitting, it occurred to him that the lady might not be quite ready to see him at so early an hour. He walked on, accordingly, more slowly than usual. Mrs. Washington met him with the observation, “Mr. Peale, I have been in the kitchen to give my orders for the day; have read the newspaper, and heard my niece her lesson on the harp; yet have waited for you twenty minutes.”
The gentleman, of course, felt exceedingly mortified, and remarked that if his engagement had been with General Washington he should have felt the importance of being punctual to the minute; but he thought it necessary to allow a lady a little more time.