During his lifetime, the Connecticut-born, self-taught itinerant painter Ammi Phillips used a succession of different styles. His early portraits are characterized by a translucent, dreamlike quality evident in this portrait of Sally and Sarah Sherman. In 1815, Phillips painted several members of the Sherman family of Pittstown, New York—Caleb, his son Wilbur, and Wilbur’s wife, Sally, who is shown here with their daughter, Sarah. In these portraits, each sitter is posed against a pale, pearly background devoid of detail. With serene gazes, they look out at the viewer. The delicate gesture of little Sarah reaching up to touch the lace of her mother’s neckline adds an emotional element to the otherwise ethereal portrayals.
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