Benjamin Trott's portrait of Anne Hume "Nancy" Shippen is a rare example, because he painted very few women early in his career. The sitter was regarded by her numerous admirers as "sweet to look upon, and sweeter yet to hold." To please her parents, Shippen broke off an engagement with the man she loved in order to marry Colonel Henry Beekman Livingston in 1781. The marriage established ties of kinship among the Lees, Washingtons, and Livingstons, three prominent families from the nation's early history. Shippen ultimately left her husband and lived the rest of her days with her parents. Their daughter, Peggy, was sent to live with Colonel Livingston's mother until she was sixteen to protect her inheritance from her grandmother.
