Beulah Elmy Twining (Mrs. Torbert) 1811

James Peale created this graphite on ivory miniature portrait of Beulah Elmy Twining, Mrs. Torbert, during a time when the United States was solidifying its national identity. Peale, brother to the more famous Charles Willson Peale, came from a family deeply involved in the arts and revolutionary politics. Miniatures like this were often commissioned by families as intimate keepsakes, signifying personal connections within the burgeoning American elite. Beulah, depicted with a modest bonnet and shawl, embodies the ideals of republican womanhood: virtue, domesticity, and piety. Her simple attire speaks to a rejection of aristocratic excess, aligning with the values of the new republic. Yet, these portraits also reveal a more nuanced picture of early American society. While promoting ideals of equality, the era was also marked by stark racial and class divisions. The labor that supported the lifestyles of figures like Beulah, was often that of enslaved people whose stories are conspicuously absent from these images. This piece invites us to reflect on whose stories are told, and whose are left out, in the narratives we construct about our past.