Sarah Bushnell Perkins, later Grosvenor (1771–1831) was an amateur

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, p ...

pastel A pastel () is an art medium that consists of powdered pigment and a binder (material), binder. It can exist in a variety of forms, including a stick, a square, a pebble, and a pan of color, among other forms. The pigments used in pastels are ...

list. Born in Plainfield,

Connecticut Connecticut ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York (state), New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. ...

, Perkins was the daughter of Dr.

Elisha Perkins Elisha Perkins (January 16, 1741September 6, 1799) was an American physician who created a fraudulent medical device, the Perkins Patent Tractors. Although they were made of steel and brass, Perkins claimed that they were made of unusual metal al ...

, one of the proprietors of the Plainfield Academy, which she may have attended. The pastels which are known to be hers date from the 1790s and mainly depict members of her family. Her paintings are now held by numerous organizations, including the historical societies of

and

Rhode Island Rhode Island ( ) is a state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Connecticut to its west; Massachusetts to its north and east; and the Atlantic Ocean to its south via Rhode Island Sound and Block Is ...

and Historic Deerfield. Stylistically they are primitive, using a small amount of color only for depicting flesh tones. Perkins married General Lemuel Grosvenor in 1801, and appears to have given up art at this time; some have attempted to identify her with the Beardsley Limner, active between 1785 and 1805, but on stylistic grounds this appears unlikely. Others have noted her mother's death in 1795 and her father's in 1799, indicating that she may have given up her work to look after her siblings. She is buried in the Pomfret Street Cemetery in

Pomfret, Connecticut Pomfret is a town in Windham County, Connecticut with a population of 4,266 according to the 2020 United States Census. The town is part of the Northeastern Connecticut Planning Region. It was incorporated in 1713 and was named after Pontefract ...

References

{{authority control 1771 births 1831 deaths 18th-century American painters 18th-century American women painters 19th-century American painters 19th-century American women painters American portrait painters American pastel artists People from Plainfield, Connecticut Painters from Connecticut American women pastel artists