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Portrait of Mrs. John Travis (Elizabeth Bond)

c. 1800
Gilbert Charles Stuart (American, 1755–1828)
Elizabeth Bond Travis (1771-1820) was at the center of Philadelphia's sophisticated, international Federal society when Gilbert Stuart painted her between 1795 and 1803. The daughter of Dr. Phineas Bond, one of the founders of Pennsylvania Hospital, and the wife of John Travis, a wealthy Englishman who settled in Philadelphia after the American Revolution, Elizabeth is shown in a pose characteristic of Stuart's portraits. Her rosy flesh and steady eye contact with the viewer project control, serenity, and well-being while the contrasts of light and shadow animate and soften her image.

Object Details

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