Artwork Page for Hannah Wentworth Atkinson

Details / Information for Hannah Wentworth Atkinson

Hannah Wentworth Atkinson

1760

Joseph Blackburn

(British, c. 1730–1787)
Culture
America
Medium
oil on canvas
Measurements
Unframed: 124.7 x 99.3 cm (49 1/8 x 39 1/8 in.)
Credit Line
Gift of the John Huntington Art and Polytechnic Trust 1919.1005
Public Domain
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Location
Not on view
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Description

Posed bolt upright in a billowing satin gown, Hannah Wentworth Atkinson is almost a mannequin for the display of opulent textiles. As the sister of the first royal governor of New Hampshire and the wife of that colony's chief justice and richest man, she was as close to an aristocrat as any person in colonial America. She and her husband found a suitable portrait painter in Joseph Blackburn, who was probably born and trained in England, and was thus familiar with fashionable tastes.
A vertically oriented oil painting depicts a woman with light skin tone from the knees up, seated and turned slightly to our right. Gazing at us, she wears a cream gown with a blue bow, thin necklace, and a sheer veil over her dark hair. Her hands grasp a gray-brown wrap. To our left, a dark landscape sits behind a stone ledge under a red sky, while a green drape hangs on our right.

Hannah Wentworth Atkinson

1760

Joseph Blackburn

(British, c. 1730–1787)
America

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