Comb

From 1809 to the 1860s, Ammi Phillips painted portraits of well- to-do farmers, merchants, clergy, and officials in Connecticut, western Massachusetts, and upstate New York. While he moved from village to village seeking commissions, he seems always to have had a steady flow of work. His style changed considerably over the decades, but its constants were a sure line, strong coloring, and a plain background. Betsy Brownell Gilbert (1796–1825) lived in Columbia County, New York. Her Empire-style dress suggests a date for her portrait of about 1820, when Phillips was living in nearby Rhinebeck, New York. The fashionable comb Betsy wears in her hair (the original of which is displayed nearby) was probably made from the shell of a hawksbill tortoise from the Caribbean.