Mary Abigail Willing Coale

Thomas Sully, born Horncastle, England 1783-died Philadelphia, PA 1872 · 1809

Thomas Sully painted Abigail Willing Coale with rosy cheeks, an alluring gaze, and supple white skin, which he accentuated with the low neckline of her gown. The artist painted her in a fur wrap that captures the color of her luminous gray-green eyes and softens the transition from the figure to the background. Sully, a skilled and successful portrait painter, wrote that “From long experience I know that resemblance in a portrait is essential; but no fault will be found with the artist, (at least by the sitter,) if he improve the appearance.”