  
  About the Artwork
  
  
  In January 1735, Scottish-born artist John Smibert recorded this portrait of the &acirc;&#128;&#156;young Mrs. Pitts&acirc;&#128;&#157; in his account book. The &acirc;&#128;&#156;young Mrs. Pitts&acirc;&#128;&#157; was Elizabeth Bowdoin Pitts (1717 &acirc;&#128;&#147; 1771), painted three years after her marriage to the merchant and politician James Pitts (1712 &acirc;&#128;&#147; 1776). Smibert painted a portrait of her mother-in-law, Elizabeth Lindall Pitts (1680 &acirc;&#128;&#147; 1763), the same month (Detroit Institute of Arts).

When Smibert arrived in New England in 1729, he was the first painter with academic training to work in that region. Wealthy Bostonians eagerly sought likenesses from his studio, where he also sold artist supplies and exhibited his copies of Renaissance paintings. That artistic setting advertised Smibert&acirc;&#128;&#153;s erudition and inspired motifs he quoted in his American works. In this portrait, he depicted his Boston sitter with a pose adapted from printed portraits of English aristocrats.

Elizabeth Pitts sat for the portrait painter Joseph Blackburn twenty-two years later (Detroit Institute of Arts).
  
  
  Title
  Mrs. James Pitts
  
  
  Artwork Date
  1735
  
  Artist
  John Smibert
  
  
  
  Life Dates
  1688-1751
  
  
  
  
  Nationality
  
  
  
  Please note:
  Definitions for nationality may vary significantly, depending on chronology and world events.
  Some definitions include:
  Belonging to a people having a common origin based on a geography and/or descent and/or tradition and/or culture and/or religion and/or language, or sharing membership in a legally defined nation.
  
  
  
  American
  
  
  
  Culture
  
  
  
  Please note:
  Cultures may be defined by the language, customs, religious beliefs, social norms, and material traits of a group.
  
  
  
  
  ----------
  
  
  Medium
  Oil on canvas
  
  
  Dimensions
  Unframed: 36 1/2 &Atilde;&#151; 28 1/8 inches (92.7 &Atilde;&#151; 71.4 cm)
  Framed: 43 3/4 &Atilde;&#151; 35 1/2 &Atilde;&#151; 3 7/8 inches (111.1 &Atilde;&#151; 90.2 &Atilde;&#151; 9.8 cm)
  
  
  Classification
  Paintings
  
  
  Department
  American Art before 1950
  
  
  Credit
  Founders Society Purchase, Gibbs-Williams Fund
  
  
  
  Accession Number
  
  
  
  This unique number is assigned to an individual artwork as part of the cataloguing process at the time of entry into the permanent collection.
  Most frequently, accession numbers begin with the year in which the artwork entered the museum&acirc;&#128;&#153;s holdings.
  For example, 2008.3 refers to the year of acquisition and notes that it was the 3rd of that year. The DIA has a few additional systems&acirc;&#128;&#148;no longer assigned&acirc;&#128;&#148;that identify specific donors or museum patronage groups.
  
  
  
  58.352
  
  
  Copyright
  Public Domain
  
  
  
