John Hesselius
Elizabeth Calvert
1760
Scroll
John Hesselius
Elizabeth Calvert
1760
Physical Qualities
Oil on canvas, Framed: 36 1/4 x 31 1/8 x 3 1/4 in. (92.1 x 79.1 x 8.3 cm) Sight: 29 x 23 7/8 in. (73.7 x 60.6 cm)
Credit Line
Gift of Alfred R. and Henry G. Riggs in Memory of General Lawrason Riggs
Object Number
1941.10
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
AMW Reinstallation 2014
American Wing Rotations 2020
American Wing Rotations 2021
American Wing Rotations 2022
American Wing Rotations 2023
American Wing Rotations 2024
American Wing Rotations 2025
Sona K. Johnston, "American Painting 1750-1900 from the Collection of The Baltimore Museum of Art," 1983, pp. 77-78, ill. p. 77.
Baltimore Museum of Art. The American Wing. Brochure. Baltimore, MD: Baltimore Museum of Art, [198-?], unpaged.
Benskin, Elizabeth, and Suzy Wolffe. Teacher's Guide to the American Collection. Baltimore, MD: Baltimore Museum of Art, 2014, pages 10 and 17.
Richard K. Doud, "john Hesselius: His Life and Work," Master of Arts Thesis, University of Delaware, June 1963, pp. 14, 39-41, 67, 86; Mary M. Starin, "John Hesselius-Limner 1728-1778," Maryland Historical Magazine, Sept. 1980, p. 194; Ronald E. Fleischer, "three recently discovered portraits by John Hesselius," Antiques, Mar. 1981, ill. p. 668
Inscribed: On reverse of original canvas, "Elizabeth Calvert AE 8/John Hesselius Pinx Maryland/1761"
On View at the BMA
