John Hesselius
Eleanor Calvert
1761
Physical Qualities
Oil on canvas, Framed: 36 1/8 x 31 1/4 x 3 1/4 in. (91.8 x 79.4 x 8.3 cm) Sight: 28 7/8 x 23 7/8 in. (73.3 x 60.6 cm)
Credit Line
Gift of Alfred R. and Henry G. Riggs in Memory of General Lawrason Riggs
Object Number
1941.9
Early Maryland families were tightly interwoven. Eleanor (1753–1811) and Elizabeth Calvert (b. 1753), twin daughters of Benedict and Elizabeth Calvert, lived at Mount Airy Plantation in rural Maryland. Both beauties made good marriages. Eleanor, holding a bird, wed George Washington’s stepson, John Parke Custis. Elizabeth, holding a rose, married Charles Steuart, whose father, Dr. George Steuart of Annapolis, won the silver trophy bowl on view nearby. The girls’ father, Benedict, was the illegitimate son of Charles Calvert, fifth Lord Baltimore. He had lived at Dr. Steuart’s house as a young man.
The Baltimore Museum of Art by gift, 1941; Alfred R. and Henry G. Riggs from their brother, 1940; General Lawrason Riggs, Baltimore, 1926; Loredan Family, by descent; Elizabeth Loredan, Asolo, Italy, from her father; Onorio Razolini, Asolo, Italy
Friends of Art, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, “Homewood Exhibition,” June 9-24, 1928 (lent by General Riggs)
BMA “Two Hundred and Fifty Years of Painting in Maryland,” May 11- June 17, 1945, p 17, no 12
Rosamund Olmsted Humm, High Museum of Art, Atlanta, "Children in America," September 22, 1978-May 28, 1979.
Historic Annapolis, Governor Paca House, June 18-June 2, 1984.
BMA, "Behold the Child," 1950, p. 11.
BMA “Two Hundred and Fifty Years of Painting in Maryland,” May 11- June 17, 1945, p 17, no 12
Rosamund Olmsted Humm, High Museum of Art, Atlanta, "Children in America," September 22, 1978-May 28, 1979.
Historic Annapolis, Governor Paca House, June 18-June 2, 1984.
BMA, "Behold the Child," 1950, p. 11.
Richard K. Doud, "John Hesselius: His Life and Work," Master of Arts Thesis, University of Delaware, June 1963, p 14,39,49,66,67,86
Mary M. Starin, “John Hesselius—Limner 1728-1778”, Maryland Historical Magazine, Sept. 1980, p 194
Sona K. Johnston, "American Painting 1750-1900 from the Collection of The Baltimore Museum of Art," 1983, pp. 77-78, ill. p. 77.
"Antiques", 2003, p. 188.
Carolyn J. Weekley, "Painters and Paintings in the American South," The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation: Williamsburg, VA. 2013. p.261
Benskin, Elizabeth, and Suzy Wolffe. Teacher's Guide to the American Collection. Baltimore, MD: Baltimore Museum of Art, 2014, pages 10 and 16.
Robinson, Franklin A. "Faith & Tobacco: A History of St. Thomas' Episcopal Parish, Prince George's County, Maryland," Washington D.C.: Anchovy Hill Press, 2015, pp.196, ill.
Inscribed: On reverse of original canvas, "Ellinor Calvert AE 8/John Hesselius Pinx Maryland/1761"
On View: American Wing Second Floor, Scott 07
