Mary Elizabeth Robbins

William Morris Hunt, who spent three years as a student at Harvard, was the preeminent portraitist in mid-nineteenth-century Boston. With its soft focus, warm golden tonalities, and partially turned figure, this work reflects the influence of the famed French painter Jean-François Millet, with whom Hunt trained in the 1850s. As Boston’s leading artist, Hunt wielded tremendous influence, and he used his writings, teachings, and extensive social connections to introduce the city’s artists and art patrons to the work of Millet and other members of the Barbizon school. The sitter, Mary Elizabeth Robbins, was married to Boston entrepreneur and industrialist Royal Robbins, founder of the Boston Watch Company. Robbins made his fortune manufacturing affordable and accurate timepieces for the Union Army during the Civil War. This portrait was probably displayed in the fashionable Back Bay home that the couple had built in 1864.