1. Ellen Wallace Sharples was an English painter specialized in portraits in pastel and in watercolor miniatures on ivory.
12 Facts About Ellen Sharples
1. 2.
Ellen Sharples exhibited five miniatures at the Royal Academy in 1807, and founded the Bristol Fine Arts Academy in 1844 with a substantial gift.
3.
Ellen Sharples studied drawing with James Sharples in Bath, her only known art training, and married him in 1787.
4.
Around 1797, while they were living in Philadelphia, Ellen Sharples first began to draw portraits professionally in order to supplement the family's income.
5.
Small portraits, such as the Ellen Sharples turned out, were a viable and affordable alternative to the large scale formal portraits of Gilbert Stuart and John Trumbull.
6.
James Ellen Sharples became ill in 1810, and in the winter of 1811, he died.
7.
Ellen Sharples was near 72 years of age when she wrote those words.
8.
Ellen Sharples began her artistic career making copies of her husband's pastel portraits.
9.
Ellen Sharples taught herself how to make miniature watercolor copies on ivory, and between 1803 and 1810 she made miniature portraits either from copies or from life.
10.
Ellen Sharples's subjects included Joseph Priestley, Martha and George Washington, Benjamin Rush, John and Mrs Bard, Eleanor Parke Custis, Alexander Hamilton, Sir Joseph Banks, and the Marquis de Lafayette.
11.
Ellen's daughter Rolinda Sharples became an oil painter of some renown.
12.
Ellen Sharples is listed as "Mrs James Sharples, Miniature painter".