Here, a woman in a stylish lace collar and daycap, popular accessories for older or married women, captures viewers with a direct gaze. This portrait is thought to be of Mary Carroll Caton (1770–1846), the oldest surviving child of Mary Darnall and Declaration of Independence signatory Charles Carroll of Carrollton. Caton inherited her father’s estates in 1832 and later bequeathed the properties to her three daughters. The artist, Washington Allston, grew up in South Carolina and studied at Harvard University and in Europe. When he returned to the United States, he made a name for himself as a landscape, genre, and portrait painter. Although the work is inscribed with the artist’s name, no documentation exists confirming the identities of either the sitter or the artist.