Skip to Content
Today Open today 10–11 members | 11–8 public

Mrs. Reuben Allerton (Lois Atherton)

A work made of oil on canvas.
CC0 Public Domain Designation

Image actions

  • A work made of oil on canvas.

Date:

1821–22

Artist:

Ammi Phillips
American, 1788–1865

About this artwork

Ammi Phillips was a self-taught, itinerant portrait painter and plied his trade in western Connecticut, western Massachusetts, and New York. He first appeared as a professional portrait painter in a July 29, 1809, advertisement placed in the Berkshire Reporter (Pittsfield, Massachusetts), in which he promised to paint likenesses and profiles over the following weeks in his room at Clarke’s Tavern.

A doctor in Pine Plains, New York, Cornelius Allerton was forty-two years old when Phillips painted him (1946.394). In an accompanying portrait of his widowed mother, the severe, wrinkled Mrs. Allerton wears a stiff bonnet, denoting her age. Both are shown with identifying symbols associated with their work, with Mrs. Allerton holding the Gospel Herald, an evangelical newspaper published in New York City between 1820 and 1827. In contrast, Cornelius holds a volume of Parr’s Medical Dictionary on his lap, and his saddled horse appears in the distant background, ready to go at a moment’s notice. As a pair—a man of science, out in the world; and a plain woman of religion—they represent the separate spheres of men and women in the nineteenth century.

Status

Currently Off View

Department

Arts of the Americas

Artist

Ammi Phillips

Title

Mrs. Reuben Allerton (Lois Atherton)

Place

New York (Place depicted)

Date  Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.

c. 1821–1822

Medium

Oil on canvas

Dimensions

83.8 × 69.9 cm (33 × 27 1/2 in.)

Credit Line

Gift of Robert Allerton

Reference Number

1946.395

IIIF Manifest  The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world.

Learn more.

https://api.artic.edu/api/v1/artworks/55710/manifest.json

Extended information about this artwork

Object information is a work in progress and may be updated as new research findings emerge. To help improve this record, please email . Information about image downloads and licensing is available here.

Share

Sign up for our enewsletter to receive updates.

Learn more

Image actions

Share