Oil painting of Mrs. Alexander Hood seated on red chair with draped red curtain behind. Her dark brown hair is parted in the center and she is wearing a white covering with ruffles along sides covering her ears. The two wide sashes/ties hang down to her waist. A dainty lace collar piece, unattached, is around her neck with opening in front. She wears a black dress with gathers from a front vertical seam that ends in a point below her waist. Long sleeve visible on her left arm has two sections of gathers on the upper arm. Her left hand rests on her lap.
Artist: Arthur Armstrong, American portrait painter (b.1798-d.1851).
Some crackling overall. Some paint rubbed off above wooden edges. Some fine vertical streaks on woman's dress, left elbow. A small spot on right side of painting above red chair. Canvas nailed to stretcher bars in tact.
Portrait of Lydia Steele Bailey, by Jacob Eichholtz.
Married to Robert Bailey.
Bailey, Lydia Steele (1779-1869) held the position of City Printer of Philadelphia from 1830-1850 and was the first and only womna to do so. She taught herself how to set type, created over 800 prints, supported four children as a widow, and at one point in her career had over twenty male employees and apprentices.