John Wollaston
Ellin North Moale
1749-1752
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John Wollaston
Ellin North Moale
1749-1752
Physical Qualities
Oil on canvas, Framed: 58 1/4 × 47 1/2 × 3 3/4 in. (148 × 120.7 × 9.5 cm.)
Sight: 50 7/8 × 39 1/4 in. (129.2 × 99.7 cm.)
Credit Line
Friends of the American Wing Fund
Object Number
1988.145
Maryland’s colonial general assembly created the Port of Baltimore in 1706 and established the town of Baltimore in 1729. Among the city’s earliest residents was Robert North, who came to Maryland from England about 1724. His daughter Ellin was born in Baltimore in 1740. John Wollaston painted Ellin shortly before her marriage to Col. John Moale in 1758. By the time of her death at 85 years of age, Mrs. Moale had been painted by a number of colonial and Federal artists. A newspaper article in 1825 celebrated Ellin North Moale as the oldest white woman then living in Baltimore who had actually been born in the bustling port city. This portrait is thought to retain its original frame.
The Baltimore Museum of Art by purchase, 1988; Estate of Suzanne Voss White Whitman (1894 - 1988) by direct descent through the family of the sitter
Ellin married John Moale, Jr., (1 Jan 1731 - 5 July 1798). He was the son of John Moale, Sr., (1677-1740) and Rachel (Hammond) Moale.
Ellin married John Moale, Jr., (1 Jan 1731 - 5 July 1798). He was the son of John Moale, Sr., (1677-1740) and Rachel (Hammond) Moale.
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
Dawn F. Thomas, "The Green Spring Valley," Vol. 1, Baltimore: The Maryland Historical Society, 1978, pp. 279-280.
Helen Cadwalader, "Today Marks Birth Date of First Child Born Here," The Baltimore Sun, c. 1965.
Robert G. Breen, "Disputed First Baltimore Baby," unidentified publication, no date.
William Stump, "Man in the Street: John Moale," unidentified publication, no date.
Carolyn J. Weekley et al, Maryland Historical Society, "Joshua Johnson Freeman and Early American Portrait Painter," Baltimore, 1987, no. 3, pp. 101-102.
For history on Ellin North Moale’s family’s history of naming daughters “Ellin North,” and the historical importance of the sitter in Baltimore (the first white infant born in Baltimore), read: Mary Bourke Emory, “Colonial Families and Their Descendants,” Baltimore, 1900, p 84-85.
https://emuseum.history.org/objects/59108/portrait-of-ellin-north-moale-mrs-john-moale17401825-a
For history on Ellin North Moale’s family’s history of naming daughters “Ellin North,” and the historical importance of the sitter in Baltimore (the first white infant born in Baltimore), read: Mary Bourke Emory, “Colonial Families and Their Descendants,” Baltimore, 1900, p 84-85.
https://emuseum.history.org/objects/59108/portrait-of-ellin-north-moale-mrs-john-moale17401825-a
On View at the BMA
