Self-Portrait of the Artist Painting His Wife, Sarah Annis Sully

Self-Portrait of the Artist Painting His Wife, Sarah Annis Sully

ca. 1810
Thomas Sully
American, born England, 1783–1872
Oil on canvas
26 3/4 x 21 7/8 in. (67.9 x 55.6 cm)

On view in the American Art before 1900 galleries

Great sadness haunts this striking double portrait. Here, Thomas Sully is at once painter, husband, and grieving father. In 1810 Sully’s infant son died in Philadelphia while the artist was in London alone studying with the esteemed American expatriate painter Benjamin West. Sully immediately returned home. The artist invokes the power of art to bring the grieving Sarah magically back from the depths of her sorrow by creating her image on canvas. But that image seems on the verge of evaporating, as if it too cannot sustain the terrible blow that has befallen the young couple.

1937.15
Yale University Art Gallery, Mabel Brady Garvan Collection