Response to Gilbert Stuart's potrait of Mrs. Michael Keppele (Catherine Caldwell)

 The Dayton Art Institute has a fine collection of art and images, starting from Ancient art going all the way to Outdoor Arts. Touring the institute, seeing the images firsthand is much different than seeing them in the book or online. When at an art museum I am always surprised by the paintings I see, not by the style of painting (although the style is overwhelming) but by the size. Most of the paintings can fit on one wall of a house, they are so huge and I just standing there pondering on how they did it.                                         
The painting that caught my eye was the portrait of Mrs. Michael Keppele (Catherine Caldwell). It’s a portrait of a graceful woman with a smooth face. She is drawn wearing a dark tan clock along with a light tan dress contrasting with the black background color. When I see this painting it’s as if she is looking peacefully at me like that of an elderly lady.                                                                                            
 The portrait interests me because while walking by it made me stop. In a way it reminded of The Mona Lisa done by Leonardo Da Vinci. Now I know there are the distinct differences in the paintings but both painting are of a woman, same pose except the in The Mona Lisa her hand is not in a graceful position they are resting together. The painting also caught my attention because it was in the American section meaning it was painted by an American. I wanted to view American painting because I feel like no one pays attention to American paintings versus European and Spanish paintings.                                                                                                         
  The meaning to the portrait of Mrs. Michael Keppele is to memorialize an important person and to recognize the special people in our lives such as spouses and children. Also he painted her as an portrait because people liked to see themselves at their best , wearing their finest clothes and in their most gratifying pose. This portrait is among many portraits Gilbert Stuart painted. He most famous painting is that of George Washington, we can see his portrait of him on the one dollar bill.                                                                    
Gilbert Stuart lived from 1755-1828; to become an expert in portrait painting he sailed to England 1775 from America the day before the revolutionary war to place, to master the details of interpreting a face with oil paints and a brush. In 1800 when he painted Mrs. Michael Keppel (Catherine Caldwell) I think he was trying to portray the artistic style of using oil paints and a brush see in a portrait.