Notes
Elizabeth Washington Gamble Wirt (1784–1857) married William Wirt (1772–1834), politician and Patrick Henry's first biographer, on September 7, 1802. They had ten children together, seven or eight of whom lived to adulthood. She wrote the book "Flora's Dictionary" (1829), a collection of favorite quotations about flowers, which was first published in Baltimore, Maryland, in 1829. She moved to Florida after her husband's death in 1834.
This miniature is one of a set of two portraits painted by Anson Dickinson (1779–1852) of William Wirt (2023.14.2) and his second wife, Elizabeth Gamble Wirt, on June 16 and 24, 1828, respectively. An itinerant American artist, Dickinson specialized in miniatures and created at least 1,500 of them during his career. He traveled up and down the Eastern seaboard, capturing the likenesses of prominent figures of the time, including Edward Livingston, George Washington (not from life), and various members of Congress.
The four miniatures in this accession passed through William and Elizabeth Wirt's descendants. They were in the possession of their great-great-granddaughter, Cynthia L'Engle Baker (1911–1967) of Jacksonville, Florida, at some point during the 20th century. They were purchased from the Baker family by the Patrick Henry Descendants' Branch and donated to the Patrick Henry Memorial Foundation on February 24, 2023.