Laura Stillwell

Artist Unknown Artist

Periodca. 1850

MediumOil on canvas

Dimensions33 × 26 in. (83.8 × 66 cm)

SignedCanvas stamp reads "Prepared by / Theo Kelley / rear 35 1/2 Wooster St. / New York."

ClassificationsPortraits

Credit LineBequest of Lauretta Stillwell Miller, 1949

Object number3317

DescriptionYoung girl with short red hair facing left, wearing a pink dress, coral bracelets, coral necklace, lace pantaloons, white stockings, and brown shoes. She is holding a basket of flowers in her right hand, and a deep blue bonnet in her left. She is depicted in a landscape with a house and pond on the left and tall trees on the right.
Curatorial RemarksPossibly by New York artist William VerBryck. Theodore Kelley, the canvas preparer, worked at 35 1/2 Wooster Street in New York City from 1846 to 1852.NotesEngaging young Laura Stillwell (1845 - 1916) was the eldest child of Dr. John E. M. M. Stillwell, a New York physician, and his wife Elizabeth S. Gillies. The likeness shows her as a full-cheeked little girl with pudgy arms and a short neck dressed in a simple frock and striped pantaloons. The artist has included a number of accessories as well, such as a hat, a basket of posies, and a necklace and bracelet made of red coral. In 1869, Laura Stillwell married Capt. David Miller. The couple lived in New York, where they raised two children. It may have been after her husband’s death in 1912 that Laura moved to Red Bank. She died there in 1916. The donor was her daughter. Laura’s brother, Dr. John E. Stillwell, Jr., authored the monumental five volume Historical and Genealogical Miscellany, a study of the early families and history of Monmouth County.

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