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Formal portrait of a teenage girl in a blue eighteenth-century dress, lined with delicate transparent silk lace trim and shawl.　

A fair skinned young lady is turned towards the viewer, looking at us with blue eyes, in this painted head and shoulders portrait. Her brown hair is up with tight curls along her forehead and back of the neck. She has delicate facial features, rosy cheeks, closed mouth with a slight smile, long neck, she wears no jewelry. The background is undescribed painted in brown tones, lighter towards the center behind the girl.

Gallery Text

When Sarah Smith Logan sat for this portrait in 1808, she was just 14 years old. The painting captures her on the eve of her marriage to Maryland lawyer and landowner William Clarke. With her rosy cheeks, delicate curls, intricate lace shawl, and shimmering blue dress, Logan is portrayed as an elegant and stylish young woman on the brink of a major life transition.

The portrait was likely commissioned by the sitter’s father, Samuel Logan, a prosperous merchant who had longstanding connections to James Peale and his brother, painter Charles Willson Peale. James, Charles, and their descendants were among the leading artists in early 19th-century America. Hanging nearby are other works by members of the Peale family, including a still life by James’s daughter, Sarah Miriam Peale, and a monumental portrait of George Washington by Charles Willson Peale.

Identification and Creation

Object Number
2017.110
People
James Peale, American (Chestertown, MD 1749 - 1831 Philadelphia, PA)
Title
Sarah Smith Logan (Mrs. William Clarke)
Classification
Paintings
Work Type
painting
Date
c. 1808
Culture
American
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/358352

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Oil on canvas
Dimensions
74.3 × 61.6 cm (29 1/4 × 24 1/4 in.)
Inscriptions and Marks
  • label: verso, upper right, white with ballpoint pen: 546
  • label: verso, on back board, orange, round, black ballpoint : [checkmark] 6/07
  • label: verso, lower center, on backboard, white with printed text: SCHWARZ / FINE PAINTINGS FOUNDED 1930 / PHILADELPHIA / James Peale / (American, 1749-1831) / Clarke, Portrait of Sarah Smith Logan, c. 1805-c.1810 / oil on canvas, 29 1/4 X 24 1/4 inches / EXHIBITED: Baltimore Museum of Art, 1960, loan no. L.60.9 / ON DEPOSIT: Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas, 1999-2006 / RS 6420 / Fine American and European Paintings 1806 Chestnut Street Philadelphia PA 19103 / Tel 215 563-1887 FAX 215 561-5621 mail@schwarzgallery.com / Member, Art Dealers Association of America; Art and Antique Dealers League of America; C.I.N.O.A.
  • label: verso, on backboard, lower center, faded with typed text: FVII # 18 [red ballpoint ink] / BALTIMORE MUSEUM OF ART / TITLE SARA SMITH LOGAN 1804 / ARTIST JAMES PEALE (1749-1831) / ACCESSIONS NUMBER / LOAN NUMBER L.60.9 / DONOR / LENDER Mrs. Dorothy Clarke Clifford
  • label: verso, lower center, backboard, printed text: B-12 [graphite] / Hirschl & Adler / The Crown Building / 730 Fifth Avenue / New York, NY 10019 / 212.535.8810 PHONE / 212.772.7237 FAX / STOCK NO. APG 8674/2 / ARTIST: PEALE, JAMES (1749-1831) / TITLE: Portrait of Sarah Smith Logan Clarke / MEDIUM: Oil on canvas / SIZE: 29 1/4" x 24 1/4" / DATE:

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History
Sarah Smith Logan Clark, by descent; to William Bennett Clarke, Jr, her son, by descent; to his wife, Sophia Jackson Clarke (neé Stiles), Baltimore, by descent; to her sister, Hester Clarke (d. 1935), Baltimore, by descent; to her sister, Lucy Wroe (neé Clarke) (d. 1939), Baltimore, by descent; to her niece, Mrs. Dorothy Clarke Clifford, by descent; until 2007. [Schwartz Gallery, Philadelphia], sold; to Harvard Art Museums, 2017

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Fogg Museum, Daniel A. Pollack, Class of 1960, American Art Acquisition Fund
Accession Year
2017
Object Number
2017.110
Division
European and American Art
Contact
am_europeanamerican@harvard.edu
Permissions

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Descriptions

Description
Sarah Smith Logan, later Mrs. William Clarke, born 1793, died 1847.

Publication History

  • "Winter Antiques Show Lights Up Park Avenue Armory", Antiques & the Arts Weekly ([e-journal], February 2, 2010), https://www.antiquesandthearts.com/winter-antiques-show-lights-up-park-avenue-armory-2/ [accessed June 2017]
  • Important American Paintings, auct. cat., Schwarz Gallery (Philadelphia, 2010), cat. no. 4, repr.

Exhibition History

  • 32Q: 2410 South Arcade, Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 12/19/2018 - 10/22/2024

Verification Level

This record has been reviewed by the curatorial staff but may be incomplete. Our records are frequently revised and enhanced. For more information please contact the Division of European and American Art at am_europeanamerican@harvard.edu