A native of Connecticut, Hall received training in Newport, RI and New York. She exhibited at the American Academy of Fine Arts in 1817 and 1818, and beginning in 1827 at teh National Academy of Design, to which she was elected its first female member in 1833.
Anna deWolf was a native of Bristol, RI. Many Charlestonians summered in nearby Newport, and her husband's grandfather, Nathaniel Russell had been born there. Upon her marriage she became the daughter-in-law of Mrs. Arthur Middleton. Anna Middleton is shown wearing her wedding dress.
The pose of Anna Middleton with her arm propped up and gazing out of the portrait as if for inspiration was popularized by Thomas Sully in oil portraits. Its use by Hall gives the miniature a certain monumentality, which is tempered by the graceful lines and gentle coloring.
Notes:
This text is adapted from Martha Severens "The Miniature Portrait Collection of the Carolina Art Association" published by the Carolina Art Association, 1984
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