Mary Grover Holmes Taylor

Periodcirca 1810

MediumPaper, silk

DimensionsSight: 3.38 × 2.5 in. (8.6 × 6.4 cm)

InscribedThe original backing board retains a faded ink inscription reading "Mary Grover Holmes / Died 1814 / wife of Edward Taylor. A later red and white adhesive label partially obscured the rest of the inscription. A handwritten note in red ballpoint pen on the label reads "MARY GROVER HOLMES / Wife of / EDWARD TAYLOR / Died 1814."

ClassificationsPortrait Miniatures & Silhouettes

Credit LineGift of Mary and Bob Johnson, 2018

Object number2018.17.21

DescriptionA small hollow-cut silhouette of Mary Grover Holmes Taylor, depicting the sitter facing left, with her hair appearing to be worn upswept in a back bun or coil, with a ribbon or bow, a small single strand of hair above her forehead. The paper silhouette rests atop a fine twill weave black silk background. The silhouette retains its original frame of wood with gold leaf over gesso ground.
Curatorial RemarksThis small silhouette has the impressed word "MUSEUM" just below the bust, indicating that it was created in one of Charles Willson Peale's museums, most likely the New York City branch. Charles Willson Peale was one of early America's most fascinating and energetic characters. Born in Baltimore in 1741, Peale was apprenticed as a saddlemaker. As a young man, he opened his owned saddle shop which was unsucessful and also tried metal work and clock repair. After these initial failures, Peale turned his attention to painting, and here he found success. He focused on portraiture, and studied with such notable artists as James Singleton Copley. After studying in England with Benjamin West, Peale returned to America and proceeded to become the portaitist of many of the most important figures of the day including George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, and Thomas Jefferson. Peale had numerous and widely varied interests, and was knowledgeable in carpentry, dentistry, optometry, mechanics, and shoemaking. Peale married three times and had a total of sixteen children, many of whom he named for famous artists including Rembrandt, Raphaelle, Titian, Rubens, and Angelica Kauffman. It was Peale's fascination with natural history, however, that would lead him to open one of America's first museums. In 1784, Peale opened his museum in Philadelphia, putting on display numerous floral and faunal specimens, minerals, rocks, and other artifacts. He was taught himself taxidermy and prepared a number of specimens, placing them in front of dioramic backdrops he painted himself. In 1801, Peale and his son Rembrandt lent their energies to the excavation of an almost complete mastodon found near Newburgh, New York. Peale relied on family members - including several of his sixteen children - to help run his museum. He later opened branches in Baltimore and in New York City. Visitors to his Philadelphia museum could sit for their silhouettes to take away as souvenirs. Although few records remain regarding Peale's New York museum, it is very likely that this silhouette of Mary Grover Holmes Taylor was taken there, probably sometime around 1810. The image was probably taken using a physiognotrace, a device that allowed a silhouette to be taken and reduced in size onto the paper in one step. Mary Taylor's image is hollow-cut, meaning that the solid portion of the white paper was discarded and the surrounding paper mounted on top of black silk to create the bold silhouette portrait. Peale died in 1827, after which time his museum collections were dispersed and sold, some of which were purchased by showman and entreprenuer P. T. Barnum.NotesThis simple and charming profile is the only know image of Mary Grover Holmes Taylor (1789 - 1814). Mary Holmes married Edward Taylor (1779 - 1845), a successful dry goods merchant and politician in New York City. Mary was twenty five when she gave birth to the couple's only child, Mary Holmes Taylor, on 5 February 1814. Mary Taylor died eighteen days after giving birth and was interred in the Friends Burying Ground on Houston Street in New York City. The silhouette captures Mary's profile, with a tendril of hair casually arching over her forehead.

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