Caroline Gallup Reed

Period1892

Place MadeParis, France

MediumOil on canvas

Dimensions45.5 × 29.5 in. (115.6 × 74.9 cm)

SignedPainting is signed on the reverse "M. C. Reed / Portrait of / C. Gallup Reed / Paris 1892."

ClassificationsPortraits

Credit LineGift of M. Geraldine Reed Millet and Latham Gallup Reed, 1931

Object number8

DescriptionPortrait of Caroline Gallup Reed, aged seventy-one, posed standing looking towards the right. The sitter is depicted in profile, with a strong nose and chin, her gray and white hair drawn up into a coil at the back of the head, with tendrils of hair along her neck. The sitter wears a lavender silk gown, with peaked shoulders, three-quarter sleeves, draped bodice, and full skirt, trimmed with dark purple/black velvet panels and lace ruffles and neck and sleeves. The sitter holds the edge of a book resting on a draped table, with a small globular glass vase with violets.
Curatorial RemarksCaroline Gallup Reed (1821-1914) posed for her portrait in 1892. The portraitist was not only an artist but Reed's own daughter. Mary Geraldine Reed, who went by her middle name "Geraldine" for most of her life, was born in Albany in 1852, the first child and eldest daughter of Caroline Gallup Reed and Reverend Sylvanus Albert Reed. Geraldine showed artistic talent at an early age, and her education was strongly guided by her mother. Reed traveled to Paris and studied with such artists as Alfred Stevens and Maurice Denis. Geraldine married Francois Millet, the son of the famous French artist Jean-Francois Millet, in the summer of 1897. The couple settled in the Barbizon area of France. At the outbreak of World War I, Geraldine was forced to escape her home when the German invaded the area, hiding in the back of a hay cart with her maid. Millet died at the age of 92 in 1945. Geraldine Reed Millet's portrait of her mother, Caroline Gallup Reed, shows a strong Impressionist influence. Her instructor, Alfred Stevens (1823-1906), was friends with many of the leading Impressionist artists of the day, including Edgar Degas, James MacNeill Whistler, Berthe Morisot, and Edouard Manet. Mary Geraldine Reed Millet died in 1945 at the age of 92 and was interred in All Saints Episcopal Church cemetery in Navesink.NotesCaroline Gallup Reed posed for her daughter, artist Mary Geraldine Reed Millet, in 1892. Caroline Gallup was born in Berne, Albany County, New York, on August 5, 1821. Her father was Albert Gallup, who served as a member of Congress during the administration of Martin Van Buren, and her mother was Eunice Smith. Caroline's Gallup ancestors fought during the American Revolution. As a girl, Caroline Gallup attended St. Peter's School. In 1835, she began attending the Albany Female Academy, where "it was there that the discipline of mind and taste for knowledge began." In 1851, she married the Reverend Sylvanus Reed. Reed, an Episcopal minister, began his work as assistant and then head rector at Holy Innocents on North Pearl Street in Albany, then later became minister at St. George's Chapel in New York City. Reed apparently suffered from poor health and died on October 10, 1870, at the age of 58. Caroline Reed decided to found a school to promote high quality education for girls and young women.The first advertisement for Mrs. Reed's school appeared in June 1864, noting that "the course of instruction will include the studies necessary to a thorough education, and each department will be under the charge of the most accomplished teachers." The school was incorporated in 1883 under New York State as Reed College to ensure the continuation of Caroline Reed's educational vision. In an 1883 prospectus, Reed wrote "I knew that in the city of New York there was room for a girls' school of the rank and character which I determined to give to mine...the course of education is designed to give a breadth of culture beyond the usual routine of schools." The school also offered serious collegiate courses. Reed retired from active school oversight in 1894. Caroline and Sylvanus had four children: Mary Geraldine (1852-1945), Sylvanus Albert (1854-1935), Latham Gallup (1856-1945), and Anna DeWitt (1858-1958). Caroline Gallup Reed loved history as well as genealogy. She was a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution, the Colonial Dames of America, and the Society of Mayflower Descendants. Reed became a member of the American Geographical Society in 1860, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and the New York Genealogical and Biographical Society in 1882. Reed also researched and wrote papers and articles which appeared in a broad range of publications. In 1893, for example, Reed's monograph "Historic Women of Egypt" was included in the official publication for the Congress of Women at the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago. In 1869, Reed purchased 59 acres of land in Locust. Her summer residence, which she named "Reedmont," was ultimately one of five houses she had built on the land. Reed had four other homes constructed for her four adult children and their families as well, Monmouth County, as a summer estate. By the summer of 1898, Reed had organized a group of Monmouth residents to discuss the founding of an historical organization dedicated to the preservation and promotion of Monmouth's rich history. Reed traveled extensively, and was away on an extended trip to China during the Monmouth County Historical Association's first formal meeting in October 1898. After her return, Reed assumed the role of Board President, guiding the organization through its early years. Upon stepping down from her role, Reed was named Honorary President of the Association. She died at the age of 93 in 1914.

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