Mary Fish Silliman
Oil painting
circa 1795 (Date manufactured/created)
Oil on canvas
Oil paint, cotton, wood
This portrait of Mary Fish Silliman (1736-1811) was painted between 1794 and 1795, about five years after the death of her husband, Brigadier General Gold Selleck Silliman, a prominent patriot in the American Revolution. There are no known portraits of General Silliman. Mary Silliman was unusually well educated, and left a legacy of letters describing life in 18th-century Connecticut and the hardships caused by the Revolution.
Gift of Mrs. Oliver Gould Jennings
1976.79