Hannah Lemmon Corcoran (Mrs. Thomas Corcoran) c. 1802 - 1810

Charles Peale Polk painted this portrait of Hannah Lemmon Corcoran during a time when the United States was still defining itself as a nation. Polk was a member of the renowned Peale family of artists. He captured Hannah, an affluent woman, seated at a table with roses, in a simple white dress. Her dress, while fashionable, also suggests domesticity and perhaps pregnancy. The setting is domestic, and the overall impression is one of bourgeois serenity. While portraits like these often celebrated the status of the sitter, they also served as a reminder of the limited roles available to women in that era. Hannah’s identity is primarily defined by her marriage as she is identified as Mrs. Thomas Corcoran, a common practice that highlights women's social standing through their husbands. This portrait offers a glimpse into the life of a woman navigating societal expectations and personal identity in a formative period of American history, inviting us to consider the complexities of gender and status of the time.