John Hesselius
Elizabeth Calvert
1761
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
"Friends of Art," Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Homewood Exhibitions, Jun 9-24, 1928 (lent by General Riggs); BMA, "Two Hundred and Fifty Years of Painting in Maryland," May 11-June 17, 1945, pp. 17-18, no. 13; BMA, Behold the Child, Nov. 7-Dec. 3, 1950, p.11; BMA, "Maryland Heritage," Apr. 20-June 20, 1976, p. 62, no. 8, ill.
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.
Inscribed: On reverse of original canvas, "Elizabeth Calvert AE 8/John Hesselius Pinx Maryland/1761"
On View: American Wing Second Floor, Scott 07
