Benjamin Trott, Anne Hume Shippen, ca. 1796, watercolor on ivory, sight 2 5⁄8 x 2 1⁄8 in. (6.7 x 5.3 cm) oval, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Natalie Brooks Sears Shippen and William Brush Shippen, 1999.87.1
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Artwork Details
- Title
- Anne Hume Shippen
- Artist
- Date
- ca. 1796
- Location
- Not on view
- Dimensions
- sight 2 5⁄8 x 2 1⁄8 in. (6.7 x 5.3 cm) oval
- Credit Line
- Gift of Natalie Brooks Sears Shippen and William Brush Shippen
- Mediums
- Mediums Description
- watercolor on ivory
- Subjects
- Portrait female — Shippen, Anne Hume — bust
- Object Number
- 1999.87.1
Artwork Description
Benjamin Trott's portrait of Anne Hume "Nancy" Shippen is a rare example, because he painted very few women early in his career. The sitter was regarded by her numerous admirers as "sweet to look upon, and sweeter yet to hold." To please her parents, Shippen broke off an engagement with the man she loved in order to marry Colonel Henry Beekman Livingston in 1781. The marriage established ties of kinship among the Lees, Washingtons, and Livingstons, three prominent families from the nation's early history. Shippen ultimately left her husband and lived the rest of her days with her parents. Their daughter, Peggy, was sent to live with Colonel Livingston's mother until she was sixteen to protect her inheritance from her grandmother.
