Mrs. Catharine Augusta Taylor (neé Birckhead) of Baltimore

Bust-length portrait of Mrs. William Wallace Taylor, Jr. (Catharine Augusta Birckhead) with brown hair parted in the center, small lace cap draped over each ear with pink rose at each side, wearing a dark green, low-cut dress with white lace collar. Her grandfather, Solomon, was one of its incorporators of the Union Bank of Maryland, of which her husband (see companion piece WAM 38.480) became Director in 1861. She married in 1847 and died in 1881. The family lived in 7 West Mount Vernon Place, making them the neighbours of the Walters family who lived at 5 West. (For more information see "History of Baltimore Maryland, from its founding as a town to the current year, 1792-1898").

Born in Leeds, England, and trained in an architect's office, Richard Morrell Staigg came to the United States in 1831. Washington Allston encouraged him and he soon devoted himself to miniature painting. He was a regular exhibitor at the National Academy of Design, New York City, of which he was elected an associate in 1856, and an academician in 1861. In the last two decades of his life he devoted himself to portraits, landscapes and genre scenes in oil.

Provenance

Provenance (from the French provenir, 'to come from/forth') is the chronology of the ownership, custody, or location of a historical object.

Acquired by Abraham Jay Fink, Baltimore; by bequest to A. J. Fink Foundation, Inc., Baltimore; given to Walters Art Museum, 1963.