Dressed in an apricot gown, Lauriette Ashley (1803–1870) sits surrounded by fine furniture and a boldly patterned carpet. Her books were, however, the objects she considered most meaningful. According to Cornelia Spencer, the painting’s donor, her great-great-great aunt Lauriette “was a typical strong-minded female—not for her the lady-like pursuits of needlework or horticulture. She was a voluminous letter writer, her main interests being the Protestant Episcopal Church and the Abolitionist movement.” Lauriette’s cousin, the itinerant artist Erastus Salisbury Field, painted this grand portrait during the summer he lived with her family in Hudson, New York. The Ashley home is visible through the window. Created at the beginning of his long artistic career, this ambitious portrait was Field’s first attempt at painting a life-sized, full-length subject. Lauriette’s awkward pose, with her right arm tucked behind her back, might be explained by the artist’s inexperience.
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