3-002-859 - Heritage Art/Heritage Images

Portrait of Ellen Harper Walters, 1897. Ellen Walters (1822-1862) was the daughter of a prosperous Philadelphia merchant. She died at the age of 40, leaving her husband with two children to raise: Henry (1848-1931) and Jennie (1853-1922). To paint this miniature 35 years after Ellen's death, the artist worked from a daguerreotype made in 1846, the year of her marriage to art collector William T. Walters whose collection formed the basis of the Walters Art Museum.