Object Status:
Unlocated
Accession Date:
November 1778
Primary Source Reference:
Du Simitière Memorandum Books, Library of Congress, fol. 30v-31r
Additional Source Text:
"Drawn in the Dress she appeared in as Lady to one of the Knights of the burning mountain at the great entertainment given by the principal officers of the british army to Gen. Howe on the 18th of May last which they calld meschianza, her dress is a high turban and veil ornamented with a black feather jewells, gold lace & Spangles a white Silk gown and waist flounced & Spangled and a Sash round her waist of white silk also tied with gold strings and tassels, She is in a Standing posture in the manner she received her Knight after the Tournament at her feet lay the broken lance & sword and on her Side his Shield against the Stump of a tree, the device of which is a Knight armed cap a pié [head to toe] with his sword lifted up riding on a black horse caparasoned red, and the whole on a gold ground the motto swift vigilant & bold behind on the other side is a distant view of the house near Philada (late Joseph Wharton['s]) where the entertainment was given with one of the triumphal arches erected before it and the line formed by the troops and all the colours of the army thro' which the procession passed towards the house this picture was begun the 4th of June last the young lady Sat two days for it about 5 hours in all & after working a little more at the dress, it was discontinued till the beginning of this month when it was in hand almost every day to the end of it -- the figure is ten inches high and the whole picture 13 1/4 high by 9 1/2 broad. N.B. it is the first picture of the kind I have ever done."
Notes:
On list of "Paintings and Drawings done." Du Simitière lent the drawing to Ben Shoemaker on 3 April 1779 and to Mrs. Williams on 30 Sep 1779 (MB, 51v).
This drawing was valued at £1 15s in in Du Simitière's estate inventory (p. 2).
"Williamina Elizabeth Smith was b. July 4, 1762. When the British occupied Philadelphia she resided with her aunt, Mrs. Phineas Bond, who remained in that city. She was then sixteen years of age, a bright, sprightly girl and soon attracted the notice of young British officers, and especially of the accomplished [Maj. John] André, who induced Mrs. Bond to let her figure as one of the ladies of the Mischianza.” "Descendants of the Rev. William Smith, D.D., First Provost of the College of Philadelphia," Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, 4 (1880): 380
A small portrait of Smith by André in the Library Company of Philadelphia is pictured here.
