Portrait of Electa Kinney Ferris

Description:

Stephen Ferris made this pencil portrait of his mother from memory in 1890. She had died in 1848 near Yorkville, Illinois, after the birth of her fourteenth child, when Ferris was a boy of thirteen. Contrary to a contemporary biography’s claim that he was orphaned at ten, Ferris belonged to a large family which became even larger with his father’s remarriage. As a boy Ferris lived with a maternal uncle who offered him a chance to study at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in Philadelphia from the age of seventeen.

Date Made: 1898

Original Artist: Ferris, Stephen James

Place Made: United States: Pennsylvania, Philadelphia

Subject: Portraits

Subject:

See more items in: Work and Industry: Graphic Arts, Ferris Collection, Communications, Art

Exhibition:

Exhibition Location:

Credit Line: Mrs. J. L. Gerome Ferris

Data Source: National Museum of American History

Id Number: GA.16646Catalog Number: 16646Accession Number: 119780

Object Name: drawingdrawingOther Terms: drawing; Pencil

Physical Description: paper (overall material)graphite (overall material)Measurements: image: 10 cm x 9 cm; 3 15/16 in x 3 9/16 insheet: 23.5 cm x 16.5 cm; 9 1/4 in x 6 1/2 in

Guid: http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ng49ca746a6-461a-704b-e053-15f76fa0b4fa

Record Id: nmah_818391

Our collection database is a work in progress. We may update this record based on further research and review. Learn more about our approach to sharing our collection online.

If you would like to know how you can use content on this page, see the Smithsonian's Terms of Use. If you need to request an image for publication or other use, please visit Rights and Reproductions.