Painting: Portrait of Charity Hallett Barnum, circa 1847

Painting: Portrait of Charity Hallett Barnum, circa 1847


Charity Barnum (associated with)
Frederick R. Spencer (created by)
1847 (Date manufactured/created)
oil on canvas
34.5 in H X 29.25 in W Measurement Notes: 34 1/2 H x 29 1/4 W (dimensions of canvas) Measurements should be rechecked as they vary from conservator's report.
36.75" W
Portrait of Charity Hallett Barnum, first wife of P.T. Barnum.  She was about thirty-eight years old when this oil portrait was made in 1847.  She is depicted sitting in an armchair, her eyes looking directly at the viewer. Her pose is demure, with hands softly folded in her lap resting on a lace-trimmed handkerchief.  Her face bears a gentle look, with long brown ringlets framing the sides of her face, and attentive grey eyes.  She is wearing a black silk velvet gown, and a handmade lace collar.  A large oval brooch featuring a grey and black bird with colorful markings is pinned to the dress near the base of her throat.  Over her head she wears a lace lappet (a long piece of lace with rounded ends) which is gathered up at the sides with rose color ribbons of silk gauze.  The lace lappet is a more ornamental form of headwear than a cap, which was the usual head covering worn by married women in this time period.  Charity's hairstyle with a center part and hair smoothed over the crown, then falling in long ringlets, was fashionable in the 1840s, but she continued to wear her hair this way for the rest of her life.  A fashion quite specific to this time period is the braided "wreath" of the wearer's hair adorning the back of the crown; a braided wreath is just visible behind the lappet in this portrait .  The long sleeves of Charity's dress are trimmed at the lower edge with lace which extends partway up the side openings.  Charity is seated in an armchair with a rounded back and carved details, and upholstered in red velvet.   A shadowed interior background is vaguely suggested.
This portrait is by Frederick R. Spencer, who also did a portrait of P. T. Barnum (owned by Circus World Museum), and a very large portrait of the couple's three daughters (Barnum Museum collection).  All the portraits were done at about the same time, coinciding with the completion of the Barnum's first home in Bridgeport, an oriental villa they called Iranistan.  
Charity Barnum nee Hallett (October 28, 1808 - November 19, 1873) was the first wife of Phineas Taylor Barnum.  They met in Bethel, Connecticut, where she was a tailoress, and they married on November 18, 1829, she aged 21, he 19.  They had four daughters, three of whom lived to adulthood.  Although the two were devoted to one another for many years, Charity was a quieter presence than her husband, and apparently preferred home life to travel.  As her husband achieved international fame and great wealth, their differing outlooks and interests became more marked.  By inclination she did not seek the limelight; in addition, she suffered from ill health for many years.  She died on November 19, 1873, and  was buried in Mountain Grove Cemetery in Bridgeport, Connecticut.   
Gift of Arleen P. Seeley
2006.005.002