Mrs. Benjamin Fisher 

This drawing of Mrs. Benjamin Fisher was made by Gilbert Stuart at an unknown date using graphite and white chalk on paper. Stuart was one of the leading portrait painters in the United States at the time. He is best known for his portraits of prominent figures such as George Washington. This drawing of Mrs. Fisher is interesting because it shows a more private side of Stuart's work. It is a simple, yet elegant, portrait of an elderly woman. The soft lighting and delicate lines create a sense of intimacy and vulnerability. We know very little about Mrs. Fisher herself, making it difficult to know how this work reflected the social and cultural context of its time. What does it mean to create an image of a woman in this time? How was she meant to be seen? By looking at things like the artist's other works and letters, and the biographies of people from that period, we can start to piece together a better understanding of how art reflected the lives of people from the past.