Cleveland Museum of Art

Portrait of Susan Coren Towers

James PealeLinkedCulture matchlcp-d24cfd6c57d8

Date: 1796
Medium: watercolor on ivory
Culture: America, late 18th Century
Department: American Painting and Sculpture
Institution: Cleveland Museum of Art
Object ID: 121281

From the Cleveland Museum of Art record

Susan Coren Towers was the daughter of a major in the Revolutionary War, and her husband was a successful woolen goods manufacturer. While little is known about Towers outside of her husband’s and father’s pursuits, Peale painted her with slightly asymmetrical clothing, bouncy curls, and a slight smirk, possible hints at her personality. While many portrait miniatures have compartments containing the sitter’s hair, this example holds hair from two individuals, likely Towers and a loved one. Online fans of the Broadway musical Hamilton have frequently misidentified this image as a portrait of Peggy Schuyler, Alexander Hamilton’s sister-in-law.

View at Cleveland Museum of Art ↗

The authoritative record is held by Cleveland Museum of Art. LinkedCulture surfaces this object and its connections; it does not alter institutional metadata.

Get printable QR codes

Open QR codes for this object page and the museum record. They stay collapsed until needed.

Open this page

See at Cleveland Museum of Art