Practically every member of the Peale family contributed to America's early art and culture and Sarah Peale was the first woman artist to have made a living from her work. Having learned to paint from her renowned father, she painted several famous people, including Lafayette, Andrew Jackson, Thomas Hart Benson, and Daniel Webster. Sarah was a passionate woman bent on being successful as an artist. She was also a woman of strong passion with a will to love and to be in love. Though unmarried, she nevertheless loved her men--fiercely! As a respected artist in Baltimore and in Washington, Sarah can truly be considered America's first woman professional artist, her art work continuously being in demand during her days and now hanging on the walls of prominent American museums.

This volume features nearly 500 paintings, watercolors, pastels, and miniatures from Harvard University's storied, yet little-known, collection of American art. These works, many unpublished, are drawn from the Harvard Art Museums, the University Portrait Collection, the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, and other entities, and date from the early colonial years to the mid-19th century. Highlights include a rare group of 17th-century portraits, along with important paintings by Robert Feke, John Singleton Copley, Charles Willson Peale, Gilbert Stuart, and Washington Allston, in addition to works depicting western and Native American subjects by Alexandre de Batz, Henry Inman, and Alfred Jacob Miller, among others. Each work is accompanied by scholarly commentary that draws on extensive new research, as well as a complete exhibition and reference history. An introduction by Theodore E. Stebbins Jr. describes the history of the collection. Lavishly illustrated in color, this compendium is a testament to the nation's oldest collection of American art, and an essential resource for scholars and collectors alike.

Cover -- Half Title -- Title -- Copyright -- Contents -- List of Illustrations -- Acknowledgments -- Prologue -- CHAPTER ONE: The Cultivation of Lucas -- CHAPTER TWO: The Wandering Road to Paris -- CHAPTER THREE: Lucas and Paris in a Time of Transition -- CHAPTER FOUR: Lucas and Whistler -- CHAPTER FIVE: The Links to Lucas -- CHAPTER SIX: From Ecouen to Barbizon -- CHAPTER SEVEN: M, Eugène, and Maud -- CHAPTER EIGHT: When Money Is No Object -- CHAPTER NINE: The Lucas Collection -- CHAPTER TEN: The Final Years -- CHAPTER ELEVEN: The Terms of Lucas's Will -- CHAPTER TWELVE: A Collection in Search of a Home -- CHAPTER THIRTEEN: The Shot across the Bow -- CHAPTER FOURTEEN: The Glorification of Lucas -- CHAPTER FIFTEEN: In Judge Kaplan's Court -- CHAPTER SIXTEEN: Lucas Saved -- Postscript -- Appendix -- Notes -- Bibliography -- Index -- A -- B -- C -- D -- E -- F -- G -- H -- I -- J -- K -- L -- M -- N -- O -- P -- R -- S -- T -- U -- V -- W -- Z

Written in engaging and accessible prose by experts in the field, this reference introduces readers to the "hidden" history of women in America from its beginnings to 1860, bringing their achievements to light and helping them gain the recognition they deserve. Chapters include: Arts and Literature Business Education Entertainment Family Health Politics Science and Medicine Society.

"Locating information on women is difficult and the editors have done a fine job assembling and publishing information extant on individual women from many nations both living and dead. Because in some cases only birth, marriage, children, and death dates are known, the 10,000 articles vary in length according to the subject. If you haven't been able to answer reference questions on women, you need this set."--"Outstanding Reference Sources," American Libraries, May 2001.