Portrait of Hiram Powers’ Daughter

Media - 1992.66.5 - SAAM-1992.66.5_1 - 62732
Copied Miner Kilbourne Kellogg, Portrait of Hiram Powers' Daughter, n.d., oil on canvas, 24 1420 in. (61.550.8 cm.), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Bequest of Martha F. Butler, 1992.66.5
Free to use

Artwork Details

Title
Portrait of Hiram Powers’ Daughter
Date
n.d.
Dimensions
24 1420 in. (61.550.8 cm.)
Credit Line
Bequest of Martha F. Butler
Mediums
Mediums Description
oil on canvas
Classifications
Keywords
  • Portrait female — Powers, Hiram, Daughter of
  • Figure female — child — waist length
Object Number
1992.66.5

Artwork Description

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 Florence.