Robert FekeAmerican, 1705–1750Ralph Inman (1713-1788)
May one see it?
Yes, receiving visitors
Harvard Art Museums
Cambridge, United States
Room2240, floor 2, European and American Art, 17th–19th century
On public display.
- Checked
- In this state since
- Source
- The museum
About the painting
These pendant portraits were painted to commemorate the 1746 marriage of Ralph Inman and Susannah Speakman. The couple lived on an estate at the site of present-day Inman Square in East Cambridge. Enslaved and wage-earning laborers farmed on the property and served in the household, attesting to the family’s vast wealth, which accrued from the import of ceramics, glass, wine, and beer from Britain, Canton, and British colonies in the Caribbean.
Drawing inspiration from engravings after aristocratic portraits that circulated throughout the Atlantic world, Feke fashioned the Inmans as members of the British gentry, modeling their fine clothing, gestures, and poses on the work of Sir Godfrey Kneller and Sir Peter Lely.
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Feke’s father-in-law and nephew were clothiers in New York. Their knowledge of tailoring contributed to the artist’s ability to render fabric and fashionable details as valuations of color, light, and mass. Susannah Speakman Inman is depicted in the same dress as her older sibling, Hannah Speakman Rowe, in the nearby portrait. Feke employs the similarity as a visual metaphor of the close relationship between the two sisters.
Harvard Art Museums
Particulars
- Accession number
- 2004.219
In the catalog
Sources
- Harvard Art Museums
- Image: Harvard Art Museums — © President and Fellows of Harvard College
