Miss Schaum

1808–10

Jacob Eichholtz
American, 1776–1842

Working as a coppersmith in his hometown of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, Jacob Eichholtz aspired to be a portraitist, eventually giving up his metalwork business to focus on painting by 1811. Despite having essentially no formal training in the medium, Eichholtz progressed quickly, becoming one of the leading portrait painters in Philadelphia and nearby areas. These portraits of the family of Benjamin Schaum (1980.742, 1980.743, and 1980.744), a fellow resident and coppersmith in Lancaster, are examples of the artist’s early style. Eichholtz first mastered small, profile portraits like these, typically executed on wooden panels. Later he developed a more sophisticated handling of the figure, rendering larger-scale compositions on canvas of his sitters in three-quarter views.

Status: On View, Gallery 169
Department: Arts of the Americas

Artist: Jacob Eichholtz
Title: Miss Schaum
Place: Lancaster (Object made in:)
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. 1808–1810
Medium: Oil on yellow poplar panel
Dimensions: 22.9 × 17.8 cm (9 × 7 in.)
Credit Line: Gift of the Estate of Edgar William and Bernice Chrysler Garbisch
Reference Number: 1980.745
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/64686/manifest.json

Rebecca J. Beal, Jacob Eichholtz, 1776–1842: Portrait Painter of Pennsylvania (The Historical Society of Pennsylvania, 1969), 215, cat. 752; 280 (ill.), as Young Woman of the Schaum Family.

Art Institute of Chicago, Junior Museum: Of Little Importance: The Thorne Rooms and other Great Miniatures, Aug. 24, 1985–Jan. 1, 1988.

Commissioned from the artist by Mr. Benjamin Schaum (about 1765–1814), Lancaster, PA, 1808/10; by descent to his daughter Mrs. Frederick Augustus Hall Muhlenberg (born Elizabeth Schaum?), 1814; by descent to her son Henry Ernestus Muhlenberg; by descent to his daugher Mary E. Muhlenberg; by descent to her niece Mrs. John R. Starkey (born Anne Muhlenberg Kress); by descent to her child McDowell Kress Starkey, by 1954; sold to Edgar William and Bernice Chrysler Garbisch, New York, NY and Pokety Farms, MD, 1954; to the Estate of Edgar William and Bernice Chrysler Garbisch, 1979; given to the Art Institute of Chicago, 1980.

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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.

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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.