Mrs. John Quincy Adams

Charles Bird King, Mrs. John Quincy Adams, ca. 1824, oil on canvas, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Adams-Clement Collection, gift of Mary Louisa Adams Clement in memory of her mother, Louisa Catherine Adams Clement, 1950.6.5
Copied Charles Bird King, Mrs. John Quincy Adams, ca. 1824, oil on canvas, 51 1⁄2 x 39 5⁄8 in. (130.8 x 100.6 cm.), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Adams-Clement Collection, gift of Mary Louisa Adams Clement in memory of her mother, Louisa Catherine Adams Clement, 1950.6.5
Free to use

Artwork Details

Title
Mrs. John Quincy Adams
Artist
Date
ca. 1824
Location
Not on view
Dimensions
51 1⁄2 x 39 5⁄8 in. (130.8 x 100.6 cm.)
Credit Line
Adams-Clement Collection, gift of Mary Louisa Adams Clement in memory of her mother, Louisa Catherine Adams Clement
Mediums
Mediums Description
oil on canvas
Classifications
Subjects
  • Performing arts — music — harp
  • Landscape — water
Object Number
1950.6.5
Linked Open Data
https://edan.si.edu/saam/id/object/1950.6.5

Artwork Description

Louisa Catherine Johnson was born in England to an American father and British mother. Her father was the first American consul in England after the Revolutionary War, and the elegant Johnson household was a gathering spot for prominent Americans passing through London. John Quincy Adams visited the Johnsons while serving as American minister to Holland. He fell in love with Louisa, and proposed to the twenty-two-year-old beauty only four months after they met. The couple married in 1797 in London. Here, Louisa is shown about thirty years later, around the time her husband took office as president. She is elegantly dressed and plays the harp, an emblem of her musical ability and refinement. The title of the music score reads “Oh! Say Not Woman’s Heart Is Bought,” and Charles Bird King, with his characteristic attention to detail, copied the lettering as it appeared on the sheet music.