Sophie Gengembre Anderson
(French/Ohio, 1823-1903)

"Mrs. John Carson Febiger, nee Anna Catherine Ryan (1824-1881)", ca. 1849-53

oil on canvas
signed mid left.
Period frame.
40" x 31-1/2", framed 52" x 42"

Literature: Listed and illustrated in Louisiana Portraits, ed. by Mrs. Thomas Bruns, The National Society of the Colonial Dames of America in the State of Louisiana, 1975, p. 97.

Notes: Irish immigrant Christopher Ryan settled in Ohio in 1832 and married Mary Boyce, the sister of Federal Judge Henry Boyce of Rapides Parish, Louisiana, who was appointed by President Zachary Taylor. Their daughter Anna Catherine Ryan married John Carson Febiger of Pittsburgh in 1849. During the Civil War, Febiger served as an Admiral for the Union forces, and on May 5, 1865, participated in the naval battle with the Confederate ram CSS Albemarle off the coast of North Carolina. Admiral Febiger was commended for his "gallantry and skill" during the battle.
Born in Paris, France, Sophie Gengembre Anderson studied painting briefly in 1843 with Alexandre Joseph Steuben. Despite only having minimal formal training, Anderson became an accomplished portrait and genre painter.
Looking to avoid the unrest following the French Revolution, the Gengembre family moved in 1849 to America and settled in Cincinnati. While living in Cincinnati, Anderson earned portrait commissions from prominent families in Ohio and Pennsylvania. The family then moved to Manchester, Pennsylvania, where Sophie married the British artist, Walter Anderson. By 1854, the couple had moved to England.
Evidently, it was during her time in America that Anderson painted the portrait of "Anna Catherine Ryan Febiger." The young bride was painted seated in an interior setting beside a table of books reflecting that she was well educated. Anderson signed the painting in the signatures of the middle book.

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