Images of Eliza Schulyer Hamilton

(16. - 1305) The Lace Widow by Mollie Ann Cox - My previous post was a review of the mystery which featured Eliza Schulyer Hamilton, the wife of Alexander Hamilton, with the story taking place shortly after his death in July of 1804. 

When an actual famous person of the 20th or 21st Centurey becomes a fictional sleuth I instantly have an image of the sleuth as a person for there are abundant photos.

While Eliza Schulyer Hamilton is a real person she was living before the era of photography began.

I noted no real description of her in The Lace Widow. Thus, I was left to my imagination and bits of information about her in the book.

When I read I want some visual image of the sleuth. The sleuth is not an abstract being.

For Eliza I fashioned an image that she was tall probably because she commands respect through her position in society and personality.

I thought she was trim while perhaps buxom having had 9 children. At the time of the death of her husband, Alexander Hamilton, 8 children were alive. Her son, Philip, had died in a duel 2 years before his father died in a duel.

As she deals with her grief she is not eating well but her overall diet appears balanced and there is no reference to drinking. Many women who have had many children will be heavy but she is not so described. The image on the book cover of a woman of such appearance undoubtedly influenced me though it is in black showing no features.

I considered her a fit woman. As a girl she had enjoyed time in the forest and with an Iroquois friend. In the book she is an active and energetic woman. She loves to walk.

Later in the book part of my image shifted as she is described as having a woman’s curves but not her sisters’ curves. Compared to her sisters she is “leaner and sinewy”. It contradicted my thoughts of her as a full figured woman.

She is conventionally attractive in my mind as that is how I envisage people until described otherwise.

I started writing this post early in my reading of the book and had conflicting emotions about whether to seek out images of her and information on her online immediately or wait until I had finished reading the book. I decided to wait until the end, partly to see if my image of her shifted over the book and partly to see if she was described more fully later in the book. The anticipation did spur me to read the book more quickly.

After completing the book I looked up images of Eliza Schulyer Hamilton. Most helpful was the blog of author, Susan Holloway Scott, who had numerous posts on Eliza and Alexander Hamilton. Links to a trio of posts are below. Scott says there were only two portraits of Eliza from the years she was married to Hamilton.

The first of the two portraits is the most famous and was painted in 1787 by American artist, Ralph Earl. The portrait is above. 

Quoting Scott: 

The second is this pastel drawing from around 1796 by the British artist James Sharples.

An image is to the right.

Both images come from Scott’s posts.

Scott discussed the the portraits in a post on the Sharples drawing:

I wonder if they felt the same about this delightful portrait of Eliza. Captured with the hint of a smile, Eliza is shown in profile with her dark eyes, brows, and hair in contrast to her pale complexion. The stiffly arranged and powdered hair that Eliza wore for the 1787 portrait had gone out of fashion, and although ten years separated the two portraits, she looks younger here. Her hair is loosely tied with an oversize bow and draped with a strand of faux pearls. Her dress also reflects the newer styles coming into fashion, and is probably white cotton muslin, soft and airy. (Some of this softness may in fact be due to the condition of the drawing; pastels are fragile, and easily smudged.)

The pastel portrait is the image I will carry forward of Eliza. In the book she is not a grand lady wearing gowns but a widow facing financial uncertainty.

As to my imaginary image while reading the book I would say neither my first nor my shifted image really accord with the portraits beyond she is an attractive, even beautiful woman.

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https://susanhollowayscott.com/blog/2019/3/3/three-portraits-of-the-widowed-elizabeth-schuyler-hamilton

https://susanhollowayscott.com/blog/2017/7/20/face-to-face-with-eliza-hamilton-in-virginia

https://susanhollowayscott.com/blog/2018/12/3/a-charming-profile-portrait-of-eliza-hamilton-c1796

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The Lace Widow by Mollie Ann Cox