1793
Oil on canvas, 43 x 32 3/4”
Signed and dated center left

Earl portrayed his New York City clients as genteel, worldly, and affluent. Connecticut people, however, wanted a look of modesty, piety, and republicanism. A New Englander himself, Earl understood, but his British training prompted him to add a bit of style.

In New London he painted six portraits of the Shaw family, including this one of Elizabeth Harris Richards (1727-1793). She holds Family Espositor: or, A Paraphrase and Version of the New Testament, a popular guide for family worship by the English Calvinist, Philip Doddridge. The window shows the wharf on the Thames River that her husband owned.

Miniatures of her son and his family are also in the exhibition.