Phebe Russell Swain Welch

CC0 Public Domain Designation

Arts of the Americas

c. 1837

Sheldon Peck
American, 1797–1868

Sheldon Peck rendered the distinctive likenesses of his two sitters, William and Phebe Welch, using hard-edged lines and modeled forms (see William W. Welch, 1990.100.1). Amid a dark setting, the couple’s intense gazes hold our attention. Their names and dates of birth are inscribed in golden yellow paint, emphasizing their identities. The Welches were among the white settler-colonialists who established homesteads in Illinois in the early 19th century. Beginning in 1834, they lived near Elgin along the Fox River.

Peck likewise has a local history. Born in Vermont, he lived in New York before moving to Babcock’s Grove (today Lombard, Illinois), where he worked as a farmer, portraitist, and social reformer.

Status: Currently Off View
Department: Arts of the Americas

Artist: Sheldon Peck
Title: Phebe Russell Swain Welch
Place: United States (Artist's nationality:)
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. 1837
Medium: Oil on canvas
Inscriptions: Signed, middle left: "Phebe Welch / Born AD 1793"
Dimensions: 65.4 × 55.3 cm (25 3/4 × 21 3/4 in.)
Credit Line: Juli and David Grainger Fund
Reference Number: 1990.100.2
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/76166/manifest.json

Marianne E. Balazs, Sheldon Peck, exh. cat. (New York: Whitney Museum of American Art, 1975), cat. 23.
The Magazine Antiques (January, 1990), 281 (ill.).
Annual Report (Art Institute of Chicago, 1990), 14 (ill.).

New York, Whitney Museum of American Art, Sheldon Peck, Aug. 8–Oct. 5, 1975, cat. 23; Williamsburg, VA, Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Folk Art Collection, Oct. 12–Dec. 1, 1975; Utica, NY, Munson–Williams–Proctor Institute, Dec. 14, 1975–Feb. 8, 1976; MI, Flint Institute of Arts, Feb. 26–Apr. 4, 1976; Springfield, Illinois State Museum, Apr. 26–May 30, 1976.

Gene King, southern IL, before 1973; Mr. and Mrs. William F. Carr, Chicago, 1973-c. 1990; Frank and Barbara Pollock, Highland Park, IL, 1990; sold to the Art Institute of Chicago, 1990.

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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.